March 03, 2025 12:31 pm (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Crucial to have Trump’s support, says Zelenskyy a day after fiery White House exchange | 'We're looking for peace, Zelenskyy wants Russia-Ukraine war to continue': Donald Trump after White House public spat | Volodymyr Zelenskyy refuses to apologise to Donald Trump after public spat over Russia-Ukraine war | 'Make a deal or we are out': Donald Trump tells Volodymyr Zelenskyy at White House | Himachal govt seeks fund from temple to support welfare schemes, BJP calls move 'shocking' | Injustice to opposition MLAs: Atishi writes to Delhi Assembly Speaker on suspension of 21 AAP lawmakers | We will leave for US tomorrow: Father of Indian student Neelam Shinde after urgent visa grant | 'Not joining BJP or floating any party': Abhishek Banerjee dismisses rumours of his split from TMC | Pune bus rape accused arrested after 75-hour manhunt | Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey appointed as new SEBI chief

Google collects US citizens' health data as part of secret project - Reports

| @indiablooms | Nov 12, 2019, at 10:19 am

Moscow/Sputnik/UNI: US tech giant Google has partnered with Ascension, one of the largest US healthcare systems, in a secret project to collect and analyze the personal health data of millions of US citizens in 21 states, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing sources and documents.

Within the framework of the project, which is code-named "Project Nightingale," Google got access to results of lab tests, diagnoses and extracts from medical records. This data is a complete medical history of millions of patients, including their names and dates of birth.
The newspaper stressed that neither patients nor doctors were informed about it.


Google uses this data to develop new software based on advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Such a system is aimed at individual patients, offering them to adjust treatment. The newspaper also refers to documents and emphasizes that employees of the US holding Alphabet Inc., which owns Google, have access to patient information. Some employees at Google Brain, the company’s AI research project, also have access.


The project, as noted by the publication, appears to be the largest in this area in Silicon Valley. Amazon and Microsoft are also active in healthcare sector, but they have not yet been able to achieve similar results.


In turn, some Ascension employees raised questions about the mechanism for collecting and transmitting patients' data, but experts assured them that this is allowed by the federal law on medical insurance. The 1996 federal law generally allows hospitals to exchange data with business partners without informing patients, but provided that this information is used only to help the subject perform his functions in the field of healthcare.


A Google spokesperson told the newspaper that the company’s project was in compliance with the law and ensured reliable protection of patients' data. An Ascension spokesperson did not comment on the newspaper.  

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.