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View Full Version : Supreme Court Rules Data Mining of Prescription Records is Free Speech



Conley
06-24-2011, 05:18 PM
what??

In 2007, the state of Vermont passed a law forbidding the data mining of prescription drug records (i.e., which drugs are being prescribed and how frequently) for marketing purposes. But earlier today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Vermont law interferes with drug makers' right to free speech.

The law had been intended to protect the privacy of doctors and patients, but six of the Supremes said Big Pharma's right to hone its marketing pitches is more important.

http://consumerist.com/2011/06/supreme-court-says-data-mining-of-prescription-drug-records-is-free-speech.html

GRUMPY
06-24-2011, 06:08 PM
what??

In 2007, the state of Vermont passed a law forbidding the data mining of prescription drug records (i.e., which drugs are being prescribed and how frequently) for marketing purposes. But earlier today, the Supreme Court ruled that the Vermont law interferes with drug makers' right to free speech.

The law had been intended to protect the privacy of doctors and patients, but six of the Supremes said Big Pharma's right to hone its marketing pitches is more important.

http://consumerist.com/2011/06/supreme-court-says-data-mining-of-prescription-drug-records-is-free-speech.html

did you read the opinion of the court.....

Conley
06-24-2011, 06:28 PM
only excerpts...you?

GRUMPY
06-25-2011, 02:58 PM
only excerpts...you?

yes i did, it is not very long....there are many excellent sites check out www.law.cornelledu (http://www.law.cornelledu) i think....anyway it is a short read....

Conley
06-25-2011, 03:05 PM
only excerpts...you?

yes i did, it is not very long....there are many excellent sites check out www.law.cornelledu (http://www.law.cornelledu) i think....anyway it is a short read....


thanks! didn't know where I could find it...the WSJ wanted me to pay for it

waltky
06-08-2017, 03:14 AM
Pros and cons of big data...
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/images/icons/icon5.gif
Facebook to Provide Data Maps to Help Agencies After Natural Disasters
June 07, 2017 — Facebook is working with three global relief organizations to provide disaster maps — close to real-time data about where people are, where they are moving, and whether they are in danger in the hours and days after a flood, fire or earthquake.


The social networking giant — with nearly 2 billion users, or about 25 percent of the world's population — said it has agreed to provide maps to UNICEF, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the World Food Program, the food-assistance branch of the United Nations. "We are excited about this," said Toby Wicks, a data strategist at UNICEF. "Facebook has vast amounts of data." The company will provide maps of data in the aggregate. No Facebook user will be identified, the firm said. After a disaster, "the first thing you need is data, which is extremely scarce and perishable," said Molly Jackman, a public policy manager at Facebook. But Facebook, particularly in areas with a high concentration of users, can "present a more complete picture of where people are," she said.

Types of maps

Facebook will offer the organizations three types of disaster maps that will be updated as frequently as possible. Facebook's location density maps show where people are located before, during and after a disaster. In addition to using satellite images and population estimates, these maps also draw from Facebook users who have their location data setting turned on. Facebook's movement maps show how people move during and after a disaster, and can help organizations with directing resources. For example, Facebook created maps after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Kaikoura, New Zealand, last year to show where people were going in the days after the quake struck.


https://gdb.voanews.com/7167F594-A5AF-41CD-BC74-45C66DA79D0D_w650_r0_s.jpg
Landslides block State Highway One near Kaikoura on the upper east coast of New Zealand's South Island following an earthquake, Nov. 14, 2016. Facebook created maps after the earthquake to show where people were going in the days after the quake struck.

Facebook's Safety Check maps are based on where Facebook users are when they use the firm's Safety Check service to tell friends and family they are safe. Facebook will create maps showing areas where people are declaring themselves safe and where help may be needed. For example, after a disaster, "we might know where the house is, but we don't know where the people are," said Dale Kunce, global lead for information communication technology and analytics for the American Red Cross. "Our first reaction may be to go to where the devastation happened," Kunce said. "But maybe most people are 10 miles away, staying with families when they reported they were safe. So the place to go may be where they are. We're excited to see what the possibilities and potential are."

Snapshots

Wicks, of UNICEF, said the partnership is at the beginning stages, but daily snapshots of where populations are have the potential to help his organization with disaster planning. For example, knowing how close people are to a health facility and how long it takes for them to travel to a medical clinic can help with decisions such as where to deploy medical services in case of a disaster.


https://gdb.voanews.com/91FEC493-17B5-4DCD-9F18-2CE42623368C_w650_r0_s.png
A screenshot of a Facebook Safety Check page is shown from Nigeria

The data maps will be most helpful in places where internet connectivity is high and in regions with a lot of Facebook users, Wicks said. "Are these data representative of the populations we are trying to serve?" Wicks asked. "That's the key question." Facebook said that it intends to make it possible for other organizations and governments, including local organizations, to be part of the program.

https://www.voanews.com/a/facebook-data-maps-natural-disasters/3890772.html

See also:

Facebook Vows Steps to Create 'Hostile Environment' for Terrorists
June 04, 2017 — Facebook said it wanted to make its social media platform a "hostile environment" for terrorists in a statement issued after attackers killed seven people in London and prompted Prime Minister Theresa May to demand action from internet firms.


Three attackers rammed a rental van into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed others nearby on Saturday night in Britain's third major militant attack in recent months. May responded to the attack by calling for an overhaul of the strategy used to combat extremism, including a demand for greater international regulation of the internet, saying big internet companies were partly responsible for providing extreme ideology the space to develop.

Facebook on Sunday said it condemned the London attacks. "We want Facebook to be a hostile environment for terrorists," said Simon Milner, Director of Policy at Facebook in an emailed statement. "Using a combination of technology and human review, we work aggressively to remove terrorist content from our platform as soon as we become aware of it, and if we become aware of an emergency involving imminent harm to someone's safety, we notify law enforcement."

May has previously put pressure on internet firms to take more responsibility for content posted on their services. Last month she pledged, if she wins an upcoming election, to create the power to make firms pay towards the cost of policing the internet with an industry-wide levy.

Twitter also said it was working to tackle the spread of militant propaganda on its platform. "Terrorist content has no place on Twitter," Nick Pickles, UK head of public policy at Twitter, said in a statement, adding that in the second half of 2016 it had suspended nearly 400,000 accounts. "We continue to expand the use of technology as part of a systematic approach to removing this type of content.

https://www.voanews.com/a/britain-london-attacks-facebook-terrorism/3886531.html

Related:

Chinese Firms Help Government Monitor Citizens with Big Data
June 06, 2017 — A Chinese city is using big data provided by a phone company to track the movement of its migrant worker population, expanding the many ways China is using big data to not just enhance performance but also track the daily lives of its citizens.


"When you buy a mobile phone SIM card, you need to register your identity information," said an officer of China Mobile designated at the company's booth during the recent Big Data Expo in southwest China's Guiyang city. He was explaining how the mobile phone company is assisting Guiyang police about the movement of migrants in the city on a real-time basis. "So, we can obtain information about the people in a given area and details like whether they are men or women, their age, and where they come from," he said.

Very suddenly, big data is set to take up many of the responsibilities of the Communist Party's feedback mechanism. It is also expected to act as feedstock for the anti-corruption campaign, which has been using information about spending on wines and luxury buying for the purpose of investigations.

Social profiling

China has already introduced a system data-driven social credit rating system in 40 towns and cities, which will be expanded to the entire country by 2020. Information about a person buying expensive wine, foreign luxury goods or an air ticket would be fed into a giant system which will analyze blocks of data to keep the government informed about the situation on the ground. The tracking of people posting critical comments in social media is already going on and social media data will also be fed into the system, which goes far beyond financial credit ratings practiced in developed countries. Here, the system isn’t focused entirely on debts and earnings, but on economic and social behaviors with an intention to allocate rewards and punishments.

China's Internet-based companies are eagerly joining the government's grand experiment. Mobike, a bike hiring company is giving out award points for bicycle users to voluntarily inspect parked bikes and inform the company about the misbehavior of other bikers. A big data based information system might help improve the working of the police force in some respects. Officials in the government's education and health departments said big data is being introduced as a tool improve delivery systems.

Risks for many (https://www.voanews.com/a/china-monitor-citizens-data/3888748.html)