Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Category Archives: Health Care

Why You Should Opt Out of Sharing Data With Your Mobile Provider

Krebs on Security: “A new breach involving data from nine million AT&T customers is a fresh reminder that your mobile provider likely collects and shares a great deal of information about where you go and what you do with your mobile device — unless and until you affirmatively opt out of this data collection. Here’s a primer on why you might want to do that, and how. Telecommunications giant AT&T disclosed this month that a breach at a marketing vendor exposed certain account information for nine million customers. AT&T said the data exposed did not include sensitive information, such as credit card or Social Security numbers, or account passwords, but was limited to “Customer Proprietary Network Information” (CPNI), such as the number of lines on an account. Certain questions may be coming to mind right now, like “What the heck is CPNI?” And, ‘If it’s so ‘customer proprietary,’ why is AT&T sharing it with marketers?” Also maybe, “What can I do about it?” Read on for answers to all three questions. AT&T’s disclosure said the information exposed included customer first name, wireless account number, wireless phone number and email address….According to a succinct CPNI explainer at TechTarget, CPNI is private and protected information that cannot be used for advertising or marketing directly. “An individual’s CPNI can be shared with other telecommunications providers for network operating reasons,” wrote TechTarget’s Gavin Wright. “So, when the individual first signs up for phone service, this information is automatically shared by the phone provider to partner companies.” Is your mobile Internet usage covered by CPNI laws? That’s less clear, as the CPNI rules were established before mobile phones and wireless Internet access were common. TechTarget’s CPNI primer explains: “Under current U.S. law, cellphone use is only protected as CPNI when it is being used as a telephone. During this time, the company is acting as a telecommunications provider requiring CPNI rules. Internet use, websites visited, search history or apps used are not protected CPNI because the company is acting as an information services provider not subject to these laws.” Hence, the carriers can share and sell this data because they’re not explicitly prohibited from doing so. All three major carriers say they take steps to anonymize the customer data they share, but researchers have shown it is not terribly difficult to de-anonymize supposedly anonymous web-browsing data. “Your phone, and consequently your mobile provider, know a lot about you,” wrote Jack Morse for Mashable. “The places you go, apps you use, and the websites you visit potentially reveal all kinds of private information — e.g. religious beliefs, health conditions, travel plans, income level, and specific tastes in pornography. This should bother you.”Happily, all of the U.S. carriers are required to offer customers ways to opt out of having data about how they use their devices shared with marketers. Here’s a look at some of the carrier-specific practices and opt-out options…”

AI isn’t yet going to take your job

Washington Post – “but you may have to work with it Artificial intelligence is increasingly making its way across industries, changing jobs from retail to medicine to marketing…Today, AI can power grocery store robots that change how stores get stocked, speed up vaccine production and generate creative ideas. But the latest advancements raise important questions… Continue Reading

Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce

Environmental Working Group – EWG’s 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™: Nearly 75 percent of non-organic fresh produce sold in the U.S. contains residues of potentially harmful pesticides, EWG’s 2023 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ finds. In this year’s guide, blueberries and green beans join our Dirty Dozen™ list of the 12 fruits… Continue Reading

This Is Why You Feel Existential Dread When You Open Instagram and TikTok

Gizmodo: “In Meganets: How Digital Forces Beyond Our Control Commandeer Our Daily Lives and Inner Realities, David Auerbach argues the the distinctly modern feeling of a loss of control over our lives is the result of these new online forces. The vast influence of Facebook, Google, TikTok, and other tech giants is neither in the… Continue Reading

The knowns and known unknowns of long Covid, explained

Vox: “Three years since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the US, the syndrome known as “long Covid” remains one of its chief mysteries. Those mysteries include what the syndrome even is. The long-term fatigue and brain fog some people report after recovering from an acute infection are the symptoms most commonly associated with… Continue Reading

Current Causes of Death in Children and Adolescents in the United States

New England Journal of Medicine: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released updated official mortality data that showed 45,222 firearm-related deaths in the United States in 2020 — a new peak. Although previous analyses have shown increases in firearm-related mortality in recent years (2015 to 2019), as compared with the relatively stable… Continue Reading

NIH Plan to Enhance Public Access to the Results of NIH-Supported Research

“Open science is a priority at NIH and across the U.S. Federal Government. Earlier this year, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) declared 2023 to be the Year of Open Science. This OSTP announcement included details on actions being taken across the Federal Government to advance national open science policy, provide… Continue Reading

ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker – The global race for future power

“The Critical Technology Tracker is a large project that spans this report and a website. We encourage readers of the report to explore https://techtracker.aspi.org.au/ as the website contains an enormous amount of original data and analysis. We have also created a range of visual snapshots including one that outlines the lead country and technology monopoly… Continue Reading

Reducing Social Media Use Improves Appearance and Weight Esteem in Youth With Emotional Distress

Brief Report – American Psychological Association, Accepted January 4, 2023. Reducing Social Media Use Improves Appearance and Weight Esteem in Youth With Emotional Distress. Helen Thai1 , Christopher G. Davis, Wardah Mahboob, Sabrina Perry, Alex Adams, and Gary S. Goldfield. “Adolescence and young adulthood are vulnerable periods in which mental health challenges often emerge. Cross-sectional… Continue Reading

Visualizing Firearm Mortality and Law Effects

Visualizing Firearm Mortality and Law Effects – An Interactive Web-Based Tool by Andrew R. Morral, Terry L. Schell, Theo Jacobs, Rosanna Smart “The RAND Corporation launched the Gun Policy in America initiative in January 2016 with the goal of creating objective, factual resources for policymakers and the public on the effects of gun laws. As… Continue Reading

60% of Americans Would Be Uncomfortable With Provider Relying on AI in Their Own Health Care

“A new Pew Research Center survey explores public views on artificial intelligence (AI) in health and medicine – an area where Americans may increasingly encounter technologies that do things like screen for skin cancer and even monitor a patient’s vital signs. The survey finds that on a personal level, there’s significant discomfort among Americans with… Continue Reading

Wildlife warning: More than 330 species contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’

Environmental Working Group (EWG): “Polar bears have a PFAS problem: Pollution from the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS contaminates polar bears, tigers, monkeys, pandas, dolphins and fish and has been documented in more than 330 other species of wildlife around the world, some endangered or threatened. And hundreds of studies have found PFAS chemicals in… Continue Reading