Slashdot Mirror
UK Police Will Have Backdoor Access To Health Records
kc123 writes "David Davis MP, a former shadow home secretary, has told the Guardian that police would be able to access the new central NHS database without a warrant as critics warn of catastrophic breach of trust. The database that will store all of England's health records has a series of 'backdoors' that will allow police and government bodies to access people's medical data. In the past police would need to track down the GP who held a suspect's records and go to court for a disclosure order. Now, they would be able to simply approach the new arms-length NHS information centre, which will hold the records. The idea that police will be able to request information from a central database without a warrant totally undermines a long-held belief in the confidentiality of the doctor-patient relationship."
Please post this to new articles if it hasn't been posted yet. (Copy-paste the html from here so links don't get mangled!)
On February 5, 2014, Slashdot announced through a javascript popup that they are starting to "move in to" the new Slashdot Beta design. Slashdot Beta is a trend-following attempt to give Slashdot a fresh look, an approach that has led to less space for text and an abandonment of the traditional Slashdot look. Much worse than that, Slashdot Beta fundamentally breaks the classic Slashdot discussion and moderation system.
If you haven't seen Slashdot Beta already, open this in a new tab. After seeing that, click here to return to classic Slashdot.
We should boycott stories and only discuss the abomination that is Slashdot Beta until Dice abandons the project.
We should boycott slashdot entirely during the week of Feb 10 to Feb 17 as part of the wider slashcott
Moderators - only spend mod points on comments that discuss Beta
Commentors - only discuss Beta
http://slashdot.org/recent - Vote up the Fuck Beta stories
Keep this up for a few days and we may finally get the PHBs attention.
-----=====##### LINKS #####=====-----
Discussion of Beta: http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&id=56395415
Discussion of where to go if Beta goes live: http://slashdot.org/firehose.pl?op=view&type=submission&id=3321441
Alternative Slashdot: http://altslashdot.org (thanks Okian Warrior (537106))
I work in this area (but in another country).
This move would be a quite unbelievable breach of the confidentiality normally expected when personal medical data is involved.
Almost as bad as the BETA, oops.
Cheers.
In what possible scenario would the police need health records?
To their advertisers, Dice presents Slashdot as "Social Media for B2B Technology" platform. They ignore the detailed feedback of Beta that they have received in these past months, and they disregard our grievances. They pretend to listen, all while admitting that Classic will be cancelled soon:
"Most importantly, we want you to know that Classic Slashdot isn't going away until we're confident that the new site is ready.
What company directs 25% of its users to a partially-working, not-ready-for-production website? A company like Apple can get away with using its customers to test out beta versions, because many of its early adopters are fanboys and suckers. This is how Dice views its userbase.
Beta delenda est!
information is to prevent bad things from happening. So what happens when a bad thing happens and the police fail to prevent it, even though they have information that clearly indicates something bad is about to happen? I wonder if civil lawsuits against the police (and awards to plaintiffs) will increase.
Mr. Moderator, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies: I just can’t believe everyone in here is a friend, and I don’t want to leave anybody out. The question tonight, as I understand it, is “The Slashdot Revolt, and Where Do We Go From Here?” or "What Next?” In my little humble way of understanding it, it points toward either the pitchfork or the codefork.
Although I’m still a Slashdotter, I’m not here tonight to improve my karma. I’m not here to try and change your karma. I’m not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it’s time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem, a problem that will make you catch hell whether you’re a Troll, or a Shill, or a First Time Submitter or a Karma Whore. Whether you’re educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you’re going to catch hell just like I am. We’re all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a work at Dice.
Now in speaking like this, it doesn’t mean that we’re anti-Dice, but it does mean we’re anti-Beta, we’re anti-SlashBI, we’re anti-Slashcloud. And if Dice doesn’t want us to be anti-it, let it stop forcing Beta on us. Whether we are Trolls or Shills or Karma Whores, we must first learn to forget our differences. If we have differences, let us differ in the closet; when we come out in front, let us not have anything to argue about until we get finished arguing with Dice. If the late President Kennedy could get together with Portman and exchange some grits, we certainly have more in common with each other than Kennedy and Portman had with each other.
If we don’t do something real soon, I think you’ll have to agree that we’re going to be forced either to use the pitchfork or the codefork. It’s one or the other in 2014. It isn’t that time is running out — time has run out!
(And a thank you to arth1)
May I ask why you are posting in response to "timothy", and not part of the FUck Beta activism to save Slashdot?
Slashdot is the new Myspace!
In the future, your DNA will be part of your health record. Treasure trove for forensic science looking for hits with the DNA found at a crime site.
You know what this means? Do you realise?
FORK /.
Beta is more than cosmetics or aesthetics. The new design ruins the one thing that makes /. what it is -- the commenting system. I only come here for the comments, not the 2-day old articles nor the erroneous summaries.
I do not see the changes of Beta as improvements. What is wrong with Slashdot that demands breaking its foundations? This is not change for the sake of change, but, as others have commented, an attempt to monetize /. at any any cost, and its users be damned.
Our complaints have fallen on deaf ears, and will continue to do so. Dice intends to dispose of Classic in favor of Beta, whether we like it or not. Do you know how to tell whether an executive really cares about feedback? If her CV doesn't already proclaim these changes to be a success even before fully implementing them:
Proven track record innovating and improving iconic websites (CNET.com, Dice.com, Slashdot.org, Sourceforge.net) while protecting their voice and brand integrity
Correct me if I'm wrong, but apart from an almost universally hated Beta version, how can anyone claim in good faith that /. has undergone any change at all so far?
This is hardly "backdoor". There's a central body, the police can obtain a warrant and then request information from it.
Doctor-patient confidentiality is a practice with regards to disclosure by doctors. In a practical sense your information is disclosed widely with the government and your insurance company - i.e. Medicare would know for what items I went to the optometrist recently, as would any private insurer I had, because they need to pay for the various line-item billings.
It's not a meaningful change from standard practice - medical practitioners can already be compelled by the same warrant's to share patient files.
Should the community be considering where and how to "fork" slashdot using a (fixed) old slashdot codebase?
Heh - well there's your problem.... "Audience" You guys really don't get it. With merely an "Audience" you wouldn't have a product!
When this "Audience", which obviously just sits on its collective ass and NEVER contributes content ( without you paying them a wage in return ) gets up and leaves your sorry ass BECAUSE YOU REFUSED TO LISTEN TO THEM AND THEN ACT ON THEIR OBSERVATIONS who in the hell is going to generate this site's content?!?!?!
Dice & /. You guys are going to be sooo screwed.
Hmmm all most forgot *** FUCK BETA *** FUCK BETA over easy with butter F U C K B E T A
They need it (1) to screen the population for medical treatments related to crimes, (2) obtain damaging or embarrassing information that they can use to blackmail you into confessing to a crime they are convinced you have committed but don't have enough evidence to convict you on.
At least it's still "free."
Back to the telly boys and girls. Daddy government knows best.
Here's a simple one. Let's say they want to start cracking down on drug dealers. They get the records and current address of everyone who was admitted for a possible OD in the last year. Heck, everyone who admitted to a doctor in the course of treatment they took drugs.
On the strength of this, they obtain search warrants for these peoples homes (a "reasonable suspicion" that drugs are present). Mass raids, at least some of which come up with drugs. Lean on these people - tell us who your dealer is and agree to testify or go to jail.
In fee-for-service medical care, the entire transaction occurs between my provider and me; no third party knows about it. If I pay cash, it can be anonymous.
With insurance, it ceases to be anonymous and there is an obvious paper trail. But there still is no single central record, the government needs to get a warrant, and needs to figure out who to serve.
With single payer or government plans or universal coverage, the government gets push-button access to everybody's medical conditions. Whether it theoretically needs a warrant becomes immaterial because in practice it doesn't.
Contrary to what you are saying, this is a big change compared to the way medical care worked originally, and to the way it worked under a private insurance system. Privacy is being eroded in a big way, step by step.
Sounds pretty front door to me. Poor terminology understanding by the non-technical, or intentionally making it sound more scary.
People will end up not going to the doctor, or an underground medical system will arise.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Fuck Beta.
Sorry, left that off parent.
That is one way to reduce health care costs I guess.
drew
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
Not unlike Soulskill yesterday, Timothy's "articles" are following an odd pattern. All articles are approx 3.50 hrs apart. Every one. Are they just automated? Or does "someone" have a specific schedule, of article, fake posts, shills, deletes, mod-downs, coffee, breathe, pray, check its not all a nasty dream.... Rise and repeat.
A long string of them abusing privacy, selling records, brutality and common abuse like this http://21stcenturywire.com/201...
There is one very simple way to guarantee your personal medical history remains private and 100% hacker-proof.
Don't have one.
Of course, that involves eating healthy, exercising on a daily basis, drinking plenty of water, and abstaining from things like alcohol and tobacco completely to avoid creating a medical history in the first place.
Of course the problem there is there is no point in talking about it that method. The obesity rate sends the message loud and clear. No one wants to do that shit. It's as preposterous as the concept of everyone driving the speed limit to avoid $250 speeding tickets and increased insurance rates.
Logic tries to win against man. Man says fuck that shit.
Abstinence can work. I promise you it can. Just take a look at the Beta for example...I did. And am proud to say I'm 100% Beta-free and healthy. For now. Let's hope a new plague doesn't befall us.
It's a good thing we won world war 2 isn't it.
At least we've had sixty years of freedom.
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
information is to prevent bad things from happening. So what happens when a bad thing happens and the police fail to prevent it, even though they have information that clearly indicates something bad is about to happen? I wonder if civil lawsuits against the police (and awards to plaintiffs) will increase.
Yeah, good luck with that. At least in the US I don't think the police actually have any legal "duty" to stop any particular crime (in the legal liability sense of the word). If you get mugged because the cops are busy tasering some old geezer who didn't show proper respect that's too bad for you.
If you look at the article it actually talks about beta in the UK, they basically saying, we want beta and we don't care what you say, we will force the beta utilizing any force with or without UK police. Fuck beta!
The UK doesn't seem to give a toss about its obligations as an EU member, but giving complete police access to medical records without court order appears to violate EU privacy guidelines. Never mind all reasonable expectations of privacy. Here's a telegraph article which suggests that the NHS policy violates EU guidelines and could lead to a ban. That the UK would likely ignore.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/hea...
Honestly, there are places where national health care systems really do work. But man does the USA/UK alliance do their best to confirm every libertarian paranoid fear about rogue government abusing private data in publicly held records. What a mess.
Well no you haven't because you are here on /. But lets just say you are one of the lucky ones who are just passing through and have had a STD and have gone to the doctor to get the fix. So now some conservative government decides for the betterment of civilization that everybody who has ever been treated for a STD gets rounded up and put into education camps and forced to use beta until they see that it's better than the alternative.
I would rather the police have access than Richard Bransons "Virgin Healthcare" who have infiltrated the NHS with his parasitic ideas, right now a commercial for-profit offshore based company can have as much access to your health records as they desire.
There once was a geezer from Kent
Who reeked of an unpleasant scent
With records of rectum
The cops could inspect 'im
His backdoor, they learned, was the vent
Yes? You're stating the obvious... why?
The United Kingdom has not adopted a HIPAA "like" policy that protects patient privacy and, as a matter of fact, the UK does not feel the same need for privacy and other human rights that the US embraces (we had a war over this, remember?). Remember the prank call where the radio show host posing as the Queen called the hospital for info on the pregnant Kate, wife of prince William? That ended with a suicide and some firings. In the US, that would have ended, at worse, with the firing of the person that divulged the info. More than likely, the "queen" would have been informed she needed to prove her identity and ask Kate to be added to the disclosure list signed by Kate. And while we're on the subject, your private (or public) insurance provider has TONS of information on you (diagnosis, meds, treatments). Be aware of when you assign rights for others to see your Protected Health Information (PHI). If someone gets your info in the US without permission, warrant, or, in an emergent setting, REPORT THEM! (and then sue). Sorry, we have a great system here in the US, but we all need to make it work and quit complaining.
There should be an end to ILLEGAL immigrants too!
Think of all the people who have admitted doing drugs sometime in their life.
Catching! Now you have probable cause and can get a warrant and search the house.
We can keep an eye on everybody with mental problems, that won't keep anybody from getting help.
Saving money by making people not want to get help, catching dangerous drug addicts and getting a DNA base for everybody.
Sounds like a win - win to me.
So fed up with loading an article out of my rss and having the fucking beta version of slashdot load up. What a pile of hideous crap.
May I answer that it could be because the FUck Beta activism to save Slashdot has totally annoyed many of us and we do not care any more just like all the Ron Paultards turned what initially appeared to be an interesting candidate into a name you wanted to avoid like the plague every damned chance you could get.
Only applies to NHS England as there is no UK NHS, and never has been, for those confused (mostly in better together), the Scottish NHS is septate and always has been :-D.
Thank god(dess) for our septate legal system.
Out of interest does this mean all the UK police forces can have a nose about NHS England’s records?
To a HealthCare.gov medical data repository near you.
Fneh.
"Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit
In the USA the DoJ said, I believe, that if you tell your pharmacist something it's not private anymore. Their point was you voluntarily gave that information to someone who wasn't you.
So, just don't tell your doctor anything, and don't give any prescriptions he might then write to anyone else (such as the pharmacist who you would need to fulfill it, by law), and your information will remain private!
I dont go to the doctor anymore, not worth the price hospital bill. I have several things that might one day kill me but that is just my luck. I die when I die. It is now a police state/world I don't really care if I stay or if I go. I think joining the army might have cause this instead of stopping it. I am sorry world.
This has already been the case throughout Canada and elsewhere. There are few formal legal regulations, and many informal ways information may be collected.
One of the main issues is blanket "law enforcement purposes" immunity clauses in privacy and confidentiality statutes. "Law enforcement" is largely undefined, and anyone operating under that pretext is entitled to received personal health information (PHI).