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Some disquieting observations on NHS data harvesting

In case you haven't noticed, the government is engaged in a massive data harvesting exercise using your personal NHS data. The government will not reveal to whom it is passing our data : it invites us to trust them. It asks us to put our faith in the 'anonymisation' of this data, but this data can easily be de-anonymised. Data can also be 'cross-referenced' with confirmatory data on social media to harvest even more information. And there is no guarantee that his information will remain secure or will not be hacked, and thus will not be accidentally released to some organisation with thoroughly malign intentions.


One thing needs to be made absolutely clear: I am not talking about conspiracy theories. They are superfluous when it comes to explaining anything, and this is no exception. (There are such things as conspiracies, but that is a completely different matter from believing in conspiracy theories as all-encompassing explanations). The government's purpose is in plain sight. It views our data as a source of commercial advantage. The government's industrial strategy, as elaborated in a 2017 report by Sir John Bell, the Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University (and a leading expert on vaccination) makes clear its view that the exploitation of such data is crucial to 'Global Britain' maintaining its comparative advantage in areas such as pharmaceuticals. (For further details see Phil Booth's and David Hencke's articles on the subject in the online 'Byline Times', and Sir John Bell's report on the official government website).


Unless you believe that there is absolutely no possibility that your data will be hacked, or if you think there is no ethical problem in our collective national institution handing over your information for someone else's profit, I urge you to opt out of this process by going to the NHS Digital website before June 23rd.

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