UK: Medical records in the open data programme?

By EDRi · December 14, 2011

This article is also available in:
Deutsch: [GB: Medizinische Daten im „Open Data“-Programm? | https://www.unwatched.org/EDRigram_9.24_GB_Medizinische_Daten_im_Open_Data-Programm?pk_campaign=edri&pk_kwd=20111218]

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that, under his “open
data” programme, all UK medical records will in future be made
available to researchers in both academia and the pharmaceutical
industry, unless patients opt out. They will be “anonymised”; at
present this process consists of replacing patients’ names with the
combination of postcode plus date of birth, by which most citizens can
easily be re-identified.

Everyone ‘to be research patient’, says David Cameron (5.12.2011)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16026827

NHS open data plans ‘death of privacy’ (5.12.2011)
http://www.ehi.co.uk/news/acute-care/7376/nhs-open-data-plans-%27death-of-privacy%27

Further Detail on Open Data Measures in the Autumn Statement 2011
(29.11.2011)
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/open-data-measures-autumn-statement-2011

How anonymous is NHS patient data? (12.12.2011)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/healthcare-network/2011/dec/12/nhs-patient-data-anonymity

Here we go again (4.12.2011)

Here we go again

Anonymity is hard to do well – scientific papers
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/SEv2-c09.pdf
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1450006

(Contribution by Ross Anderson – EDRi-member FIPR -UK)