Data Miners Know What’s In Your Medicine Cabinet
Bloomberg: How Big Data Peers Inside Your Medicine ChestIn a year when former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations about the collection of U.S. phone data have sparked privacy fears, data miners have been quietly using their tools to peek into America’s medicine cabinets. Tapping social media, health-related phone apps and medical websites, data aggregators are scooping up bits and pieces of tens of millions of Americans’ medical histories. Even a purchase at the pharmacy can land a shopper on a health list (Pettypiece and Robertson, 9/11). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.