This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Amazon given free use of health data
Technology giant Amazon has been given free access to healthcare information collected by the NHS as part of an Amazon Alexa contract with the government.
Excluding patient data, the material could allow the company to make, advertise and sell its own products. It is the result of a contract signed earlier this year, which Health Secretary Matt Hancock said would allow Amazon Alexa devices to offer expert health advice to users and reduce pressure on ‘hard-working GPs and pharmacists’.
However, the Sunday Times has highlighted the results of freedom of information requests which show that the contract will also allow Amazon access to information on symptoms, causes and definitions of conditions, and ‘all related copyrightable content and data and other materials’.
It has been claimed that the American company, worth a reported $863 billion, can then create ‘new products, applications, cloud-based services and/or distributed software’, which the NHS would not benefit from financially. It can then also share the information with third parties.
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