The NHS is being brutally accused of offering intimate details about patients' medical records including their history, treatment, and more with social media apps like Facebook.
No consent of patients was ever taken and the authority had promised that no details related to them would be disclosed.
Now, investigations into the case have begun and shocking new details are arising center stage. This includes tracking tools found on their respective websites that have been accused of collecting user browser data for years and sharing it with Meta.
As one can imagine, this is a huge breach of privacy and the information entails granular details of which pages were viewed and which buttons happened to be clicked. Similarly, they were seen matching the IP address for a user and some related details for Facebook accounts.
Data extracted through Meta Pixel may be utilized through Meta for personal reasons like bettering its advertising.
Meanwhile, data records are sent to the organization and they show data that has to do with separate individuals including medical records. Moreover, it was being collected via patients that continued to visit so many NHS pages related to HIV, gender identity, cancer, and treatment for kids.
In the same way, it kept on collecting the stats of those wishing to seek an appointment and those ordering prescriptions and requesting to finish counseling courses. And as you can imagine, the number of people affected is in the millions figure.
This past weekend, we saw the majority of trusts making use of Meta Pixel and how they ended up pulling this tracking tool away but the damage had already been done, as per experts. There were a total of eight apologies issued to those patients and several of the trusts spoke about how they ended up installing more pixels to track and monitor other activities like fundraisers. But they claim their innocence and that they had no idea that data was being shared with Facebook.
As one can imagine, the shocking findings are ringing major alarm bells as privacy experts say this is a major breach in patient confidence and can never be ignored.
As per experts, once data touches the servers at Facebook, it’s not exactly possible to see how it’s all used. NHS says it did prevent firms from sharing sensitive details and filters are present to sift through data that comes by mistake but this is really not the outcome many were expecting.
H/T: The Guardian
Read next: Internet Use rising in the Middle East and Africa: A Digital Revolution in the Making
No consent of patients was ever taken and the authority had promised that no details related to them would be disclosed.
Now, investigations into the case have begun and shocking new details are arising center stage. This includes tracking tools found on their respective websites that have been accused of collecting user browser data for years and sharing it with Meta.
As one can imagine, this is a huge breach of privacy and the information entails granular details of which pages were viewed and which buttons happened to be clicked. Similarly, they were seen matching the IP address for a user and some related details for Facebook accounts.
Data extracted through Meta Pixel may be utilized through Meta for personal reasons like bettering its advertising.
Meanwhile, data records are sent to the organization and they show data that has to do with separate individuals including medical records. Moreover, it was being collected via patients that continued to visit so many NHS pages related to HIV, gender identity, cancer, and treatment for kids.
In the same way, it kept on collecting the stats of those wishing to seek an appointment and those ordering prescriptions and requesting to finish counseling courses. And as you can imagine, the number of people affected is in the millions figure.
This past weekend, we saw the majority of trusts making use of Meta Pixel and how they ended up pulling this tracking tool away but the damage had already been done, as per experts. There were a total of eight apologies issued to those patients and several of the trusts spoke about how they ended up installing more pixels to track and monitor other activities like fundraisers. But they claim their innocence and that they had no idea that data was being shared with Facebook.
As one can imagine, the shocking findings are ringing major alarm bells as privacy experts say this is a major breach in patient confidence and can never be ignored.
As per experts, once data touches the servers at Facebook, it’s not exactly possible to see how it’s all used. NHS says it did prevent firms from sharing sensitive details and filters are present to sift through data that comes by mistake but this is really not the outcome many were expecting.
H/T: The Guardian
Read next: Internet Use rising in the Middle East and Africa: A Digital Revolution in the Making