WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2019) US Senator Steve Daines in a letter to Google on Thursday asked the tech giant to clarify how it protects a trove of personal medical records allegedly acquired through a secret initiative called Project Nightingale.
Earlier this week, media reported that Google had 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 citizens in 21 states.
"In light of these reports, I am concerned about how patient information is being collected and stored and believe it is critical that we ensure sensitive health data is handled properly and lawfully," Daines wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Daines said there should be "severe scrutiny" regarding how private health records are utilized to balance innovation needed to reduce costs with constitutional rights.
In a list of questions lodged to Pichai, Daines asked Google to explain how it protects personal data and whether this information is used in any of its other lines of business.
The head of the US Health Department's civil rights division earlier this week told The Wall Street Journal that the agency opened a Federal inquiry into Project Nightingale, which, according to the publication, gave Google access to a complete medical history of patients, including their Names, dates of birth, results of lab tests, and diagnoses. The newspaper claimed that neither patients nor doctors were informed about it.
