- Under pressure, UK govt releases its NHS data deals with Google, Amazon, Palentir Archived Message
Posted by margo
on June 5, 2020, 8:44 pm
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Under pressure, UK government releases NHS COVID data deals with big tech Hours before Open Democracy was due to sue, government releases massive data-sharing contracts with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Faculty and Palantir** HOURS before facing court proceedings from openDemocracy over its massive NHS COVID-19 data deal with private tech firms, the UK government has caved to pressure and released all the contracts governing its deals with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and controversial AI firms Faculty and Palantir. The contracts, released to openDemocracy and tech justice firm Foxglove today, reveal details of what has been described as an ‘unprecedented’ transfer of personal health information of millions of NHS users to these private tech firms. Significantly, the contracts reveal that the Dominic Cummings-linked firm Faculty is being paid more than £1m to provide AI services for the NHS. The documents also show that terms of that deal were changed after initial demands for transparency were made by Foxglove under the Freedom of Information Act. The contracts show that companies involved in the NHS datastore project, including Faculty and Palantir, were originally granted intellectual property rights (including the creation of databases), and were allowed to train their models and profit off their unprecedented access to NHS data. Government lawyers have now claimed that a subsequent (undisclosed) amendment to the contract with Faculty has cured this problem, however they have not released the further contract. OpenDemocracy and Foxglove are demanding its immediate release. It is not clear if other contracts were altered as well. The disclosures come after OpenDemocracy and Foxglove sent legal letters demanding transparency over the COVID datastore deal, and just hours before OpenDemocracy was due to issue proceedings in court. Over the past few weeks, MPs have asked questions in parliament about the controversial deals and over 13,000 people joined a call for transparency. Today, openDemocracy is publishing the contracts in full, in order to facilitate expert analysis and support public debate.../ full article and pdf document links here > https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/under-pressure-uk-government-releases-nhs-covid-data-deals-big-tech/ ** see Palantir: Peter Thiel’s CIA-backed, data-mining firm in The Guardian > https://www.dumptheguardian.com/world/2017/jul/30/palantir-peter-thiel-cia-data-crime-police |
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