Private medical data - Google targeted ads

[l0st]

If those trackers are what I'm thinking then they have to be inserted on the pages' HTML code, so that's not something they really control. If an idiot puts a tracker on a private page then they are really giving Google access to information that should be private.

Agreed. It's easy enough to do by mistake if the tracking code is applied to a template in their CMS and subsequently pushed live to every page. The basic description of the data alleged to have been collected would lead me to believe that the trackers were placed on pages that contained PII where they should not have been placed to begin with. I'm sure we'll never get the whole story though.

What really irks me is that Google thinks it's perfectly okay to collect and store such data on customers. You can't tell me they didn't know they were getting the data from the DMV. The DMV would have to explicitly sign up for these trackers and someone embedded them on the website. It seems such data collection and retention would be regulated by HIPAA in the US. Sharing or selling medical data to 3rd parties is a BIG no-no and it's clear from the complaint that this info was sold or "shared" with 3rd party advertisers.

Furthermore, the DMV is publicly funded with tax dollars and other motor vehicle revenue streams. Why do they need to sell this data to anyone in the first place? I've had to share medical data before (switching doctors) and I was always asked to sign a release authorizing this.

In an even wider scope, I somewhat have an issue with any of this data being placed online in the first place. In my opinion, the "barrier to entry" for access to such records, even if public, is entirely too low. Some scammer in India or Malaysia or the Philippines should not be able to access US public records outside the US. They're clearly using this info to target people with fraud and identity theft.

Europe put in the GDPR years ago. The US should have long since had similar legislation. Of course, they don't want to do that because US Govt agencies just can't seem to get enough of reading through people's private communications and attempting to micro-manage every single aspect their citizens' lives.

I never imagined back in the 90s that 2024 would be 1984. And seriously, if you've never read the novel or watched the movie, you should. The funny thing is when this movie was released it was considered science fiction. The end of the movie shows the main character being forcibly "reeducated". Sound similar to anything any of our elected representation or candidates have said:

"Even if we were to have a resounding blue wave come through, as many of us would like, putting it all back together again after we’ve gone through this MAGA nightmare and re-educating basically, which, that sounds like a rather, a re-education camp. I don’t think we really want call it that," she said during the Zoom townhall. "I’m sure we can find another way to phrase it."

-Paula Collins, D-NY