NHS Medical Record Programme Shelved Amid Privacy Concerns

A database planned to centralise medical records of all UK citizens has been halted due to concerns that the project had been ill-thought out.

Following several days of crisis talks it was agreed yesterday that the programme would be halted for six months. A campaign will be launched in the mean time to more thoroughly explain the proposed changes to the public, including the fact that this people can opt out should they wish to.

There has been severe backlash against the scheme amid privacy concerns and the handling of the scheme in general. If successful though, the benefits of having such a system in place are substantial. The proposed changes will likely include national television and radio advertisements to ensure the public is fully aware of the new database.

If implemented properly such a comprehensive database could be of great value to GPs, doctors and hospitals. The potential is there to make the NHS more efficient, more cost effective and ultimately to save lives. That of course, is if everything goes to plan. Let us now consider the negative sides to such a system. Obviously there is considerable room for exploit here. From your details being sold for profit, to hacked, or (more likely) leaked due to incompetence. That of course is very bad news!

It is an opt out scheme, but is it in our best interests to opt out? Doing so could put you at increased risk or mis-diagnosis or mis-treatment when this scheme is rolled out. I don't have a problem with the idea in general. If it was executed well it could be extremely beneficial to all of us. It's just so sad that it appears to have been executed so poorly, and that confidence in the NHS and the government is so low that many of us simply don't trust them with such a system. What do you think? Will you be opting out?

Privacy Messiah or Dangerous Traitor?

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, chances are you will have heard of Edward Snowden. A lot of people regard him as a saviour of the the modern age, others think of him as a traitor and an embarrassment to the United States.

No doubt he has damaged the reputation of the US government (like they had a great reputation to begin with?!). Let us also remember he has damaged the reputation of many other governments too along the way. He is a traitor in the eyes of the government, but in the eyes of the people I think he is anything but.

Bringing this issue to the forefront of the media and the general population is in my eyes far, far more valuable than any damage that has been caused to the reputation of the US government in the process. Indeed, that was the point. To expose the fact that the government so many citizens hold dear does not value their privacy or freedom to the extent they might think.

The very fact that there are so many blindly patriotic Americans who think Snowden is a traitor shows just how deluded a large portion of the population is. Nationalism, patriotism, is a device used to serve the best interests of the government. Quite frankly, it is a disease and the sooner we (not just Americans) realise that the better. We need to look after each other and our rights on a global scale. Our governments do not truly serve us, they use us, control us in order to concentrate wealth for themselves and the wealthiest people in our societies. The tools they use to achieve this are religion, fear mongering and xenophobia. The same basic methods that have been used for thousands of years.

The government is not some indelible force that can do no wrong. There are unjust laws in force, there is corruption and there is plenty of room for improvement. To deny that is to give up on democracy and to give up on those who have found themselves on the receiving end of government corruption and bias.

Edward Snowden put his life on the line to expose something that concerned and frightened him. He literally had everything to lose by doing so, it was not out of some hatred for the government or the US. It was because he saw what was going on and how it could so easily be abused. We owe it to him and others like him to act on the information presented to us.

What do you think? Traitor or hero?

How Safe Is The Cloud?

Within a few short years cloud computing has gone from futuristic fantasy to a very real option for storing pretty much all your data. The technology is now seeing usage on a massive scale, services like Google Drive and Dropbox are commonly used, and while many don't think of these as cloud services, they most certainly are.

The cloud clearly has many advantages, but how safe is it? Can the cloud offer you complete and total security? No. All systems have vulnerabilities. Is it as least as safe as storing files on your local computer? Well, that depends really. Cloud service providers are all different and some are more secure than others, both digitally and physically. If you want to really protect yourself I would advise using multiple services in tandem with your own back ups and security measures. As the saying goes, don't put all your eggs in one basket - don't entrust all your data to a single provider!

The threat to your digital property doesn't just come from hackers. Make sure you read the terms and conditions of any cloud service you use, especially if it's very cheap or free. Have you in effect given them permission to use any of your intellectual property and data any way they see fit? It's worth checking.

Assuming you are using a high quality provider, just how safe is your data from the threat of hackers? Let us first establish the following point. The most vulnerable part of the system is YOU. Thousands of people fall victim to phishing scams every day, even those that consider themselves computer literate! Another thing to consider is password strength. Passwords are hacked through brute force all the time. I strongly advise you use a password that is at least twelve characters long; containing numbers, symbols and a mixture of upper and lower case. Likewise, obvious as it may sound, don't give your password out to anyone and use different passwords for different services. If someone hacked you email account would they subsequently have access to all your other online profiles?

Most cloud services will encrypt your data, making the connection between yourself and the cloud practically impossible to crack. Make sure that this is the case though, look for https:// secure connection, if your provider doesn't use one, perhaps it's time to switch.

Do your research before choosing a cloud service. They are not all equal. Look into their history and see if they have a good track record of protecting their users data. If they have stringent, up to date security measures in place chances are they won't fall victim to an attack by hackers. As mentioned earlier though, no one can guarantee you 100% security (we might have to wait for quantum computing for that).

Last but not least. Remember that your data isn't necessarily safe from the prying eyes of the government. If they request it then your provider has to comply by law meaning they could have access to any and all of your data. If that worries you then I would advise looking into companies that are not based in your own country, and, given recent revelations I would avoid the US altogether. However, I'm not naive enough to think that other countries aren't up to similar breaches of privacy.

What's Your Privacy Worth?

Many of our worst fears were confirmed in 2013, when evidence came to light that our governments were spying on us on an unprecedented scale. Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the extent of spying going on in America, it later became apparent that other governments all over the world had been spying on each other, their own citizens, and even other countries citizens.

Literally everyone is at it. Any government with the means to collect data on its citizens is already doing so and, perhaps, it was stupid of us to assume otherwise! We have sleep walked into an Orwellian state and the general public don't really seem to care all that much. After all, if you aren't doing anything wrong then I guess you don't have to worry, right? Wrong. Privacy has an innate value regardless of your intentions or actions. I don't want someone sifting through my emails, not because I have divulged within my plans to blow up parliament, but because they are my personal emails. I refute the argument that the government has the right to all my private data in the name of terror. That isn't what this is about. How big a threat are terrorists, really? You have more chance of dying in a plane crash than being involved in an act of terror. I'm not saying we shouldn't be vigilant, of course we should go after these guys and hold them accountable for their awful actions.

At what cost, though? Slowly our freedoms are diminishing, bit by bit, usually in the name of terrorism or protecting children. No one really bats an eye lid because the steps are incremental. Where does this lead us? At which point does the government stop enforcing new laws that affect our privacy and freedom?

Would you trade total lack of privacy, to the point where only your thoughts are truly private, in exchange for total safety from criminals? I know I wouldn't. The sad thing is we are basically already there. We now know that governments have approached all major software companies requesting they put back doors into their systems allowing for easy access. Even the creator of Linux, an operating system regarded to be the very essence of freedom, recently disclosed that he was approached by the US government to compromise the system.

This isn't some dystopian novel, this is actually happening right now. Freedom and privacy as our great grand parents would have known it is all but gone. If you want to go back to a simpler time you pretty much have to abandon technology and go and live in the woods. It's not too late to change things, remember this is a democracy. If enough people make enough noise about issues like this the government have to take notice. If they don't then we are in for a revolution.

You might at this point be thinking I am some kind of lunatic conspiracy theorist, I am not. Too many people regard the law as gospel, and think of the government almost as a deity. The government is here to serve us, not the other way round. Just because a law exists certainly does not make it right. Wake up. Demand change now or it is our children who will have to deal with the consequences.