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Amazon is getting free access to NHS medical data


eddie eastwood
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It hasn't been confirmed yet whos won and what deal will be done and yet this happens. Funny also how amazon are not paying for taxes when they are earning million. 

Can just imagine someone someone having a stroke or heart attack and having difficulty talking to Alexa

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So amazon asks the NHS for permission to use the publiclly available information on their website, which Google is probably already scraping with it's bots without asking anyway.

How is this news?

Seems like a chance to jump on a bandwagon again, media sensationalism.

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On 12/10/2019 at 11:33 AM, alexp999 said:

So Amazon asks the NHS for permission to use the publiclly available information on their website, which Google is probably already scraping with it's bots without asking anyway.

Deeply suspicious of amazon, Google and the likes using data. What seems a bit odd about this is, if it's publicly available anyway, why was it necessary to sign a deal? I have seen suggestions that the deal allows amazon to access "all healthcare information" held by the NHS including " symptoms, causes and definitions" but excluding info on specific patients. amazon is allowed to use this information to "make, advertise and sell new products" but does not have to pay anything if it creates a moneyspinner eg, a new app or service using the data.

So you can see what Amazon get out of it, but not clear what's in it for the NHS or the taxpayer. Seems odd to be giving them freebies when governments across the globe are now coming round to hitting them for taxes where they get their revenue, not where they are based for accounting purposes, e.g. Luxembourg.

It seems there could also be a breach of EU rules on giving away public assets (in this case, data), so I suspect there is more to come out of the woodwork on this story.

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3 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Deeply suspicious of Amazon, Google and the likes using data. What seems a bit odd about this is, if it's publicly available anyway, why was it necessary to sign a deal? I have seen suggestions that the deal allows Amazon to access "all healthcare information" held by the NHS including " symptoms, causes and definitions" but excluding info on specific patients. Amazon is allowed to use this information to "make, advertise and sell new products" but does not have to pay anything if it creates a moneyspinner eg, a new app or service using the data.

So you can see what Amazon get out of it, but not clear what's in it for the NHS or the taxpayer. Seems odd to be giving them freebies when governments across the globe are now coming round to hitting them for taxes where they get their revenue, not where they are based for accounting purposes, e.g. Luxembourg.

It seems there could also be a breach of EU rules on giving away public assets (in this case, data), so I suspect there is more to come out of the woodwork on this story.

amazon have asked permission, even though it's publically accessible, in the same way you can't copy and paste an article off a publically accessible website and claim it as your own work.

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More info on this.

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/12/nhs_data_leak/

Revealed: NHS England bosses meet with tech and pharmaceutical giants to discuss price list of 65 million Brits' medical data

Nine 'commercial models' to access central database mulled at hush-hush meeting

By Paul Kunert, UK editor 12 Dec 2019 at 06:06
 
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That's nothing to do with the amazon arrangement in the OP though.

Bit of a coincidence, that "exclusive" article comes out at 6am on Election day, just an hour before polls opened don't you think?

Find it incredibly hard to believe that would in any way be legal, sounds like FUD to me.

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1 hour ago, alexp999 said:

Bit of a coincidence, that "exclusive" article comes out at 6am on Election day, just an hour before polls opened don't you think?

You could be right there.

Seen other articles on this and similar topics and as we can see from the article, amazon are involved in this. Nothing wrong with that as such, they are after all a commercial organisation out to make money.

I can envisage Amazon's role in all this being to "mine" and analyse the data for use by themselves in developing software and other products, or to pass on to "big pharma" for future drug development etc. I have concerns that data (which is probably now the world's most valuable resource) is going to be passed on free or at minimal gain to the NHS, to enable amazon and partners to develop those products to sell back to the NHS and others at great profit. I acknowledge that software and drug development is not cheap and the producers are entitled to a fair profit for their risk and investment.

My worry with all this is that I suspect amazon and their partners are a heck of a lot smarter than the NHS/Government and the balance of risk and reward may not be favourable to the NHS and ultimately the taxpayer.

Or I may just be a cynical old so and so and Jeff Bezos is really Father Xmas - I see in another item that Amazon is intending to pass on the cost of France's 3% "digital tax" to the small French businesses that use the Marketplace platform, rather than take the hit itself.

 

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You could be right there.
Seen other articles on this and similar topics and as we can see from the article, Amazon are involved in this. Nothing wrong with that as such, they are after all a commercial organisation out to make money.
I can envisage Amazon's role in all this being to "mine" and analyse the data for use by themselves in developing software and other products, or to pass on to "big pharma" for future drug development etc. I have concerns that data (which is probably now the world's most valuable resource) is going to be passed on free or at minimal gain to the NHS, to enable Amazon and partners to develop those products to sell back to the NHS and others at great profit. I acknowledge that software and drug development is not cheap and the producers are entitled to a fair profit for their risk and investment.
My worry with all this is that I suspect Amazon and their partners are a heck of a lot smarter than the NHS/Government and the balance of risk and reward may not be favourable to the NHS and ultimately the taxpayer.
Or I may just be a cynical old so and so and Jeff Bezos is really Father Xmas - I see in another item that Amazon is intending to pass on the cost of France's 3% "digital tax" to the small French businesses that use the Marketplace platform, rather than take the hit itself.
 
amazon is empire building..

Sent from my SM-A320FL using Tapatalk

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