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I suppose one could immediately counter this by asking - how much of your medical history would you willingly share with random people on the street? And how ab

I suppose one could immediately counter this by asking - how much of your medical history would you willingly share with random people on the street? And how about if you knew they wanted to gather it up and sell it? Maybe for yourself, you don't care about that, but I think most people consider this sort of thing deeply personal and private. In a more practical sense, it's not a big stretch to imagine a future where there are all kinds of insurance penalties associated with certain health conditions, plus the potential for hidden discrimination in multiple areas like job applications (maybe they did reject you because of your health condition, but how would you prove it?). I'm sure there are other potential problems.

MattGaiser 5y ago
I would choose to share my medical history with strangers over my data from most other digital services, from my Google search history to my private messages to my emails. > Maybe for yourself, you don't care about that, but I think most people consider this sort of thing deeply personal and private. Part of the reason I asked. Why are your conversations less private and personal to you/others/this journalist than what is probably a mundane medical history or in this case, just a pulse? The discrimination angle certainly makes sense though as a plausible fear.
- danparsonson 5y ago
  Perhaps medical records are more 'viscerally' private to people than conversations with friends? It's easier to forget that big brother is recording everything you say when most of it is amiable chatter, but when it comes to having, say, incurable butt-warts, people become a lot more reticent, if only out of a fear of embarrassment. Personally, short of deleting my account, I stay as far away from Facebook as I can, and try to minimise the amount of data I share with other services, although some compromises are still necessary or at least sufficiently convenient.

MattGaiser 5y ago

I would choose to share my medical history with strangers over my data from most other digital services, from my Google search history to my private messages to my emails. > Maybe for yourself, you don't care about that, but I think most people consider this sort of thing deeply personal and private. Part of the reason I asked. Why are your conversations less private and personal to you/others/this journalist than what is probably a mundane medical history or in this case, just a pulse? The discrimination angle certainly makes sense though as a plausible fear.

danparsonson 5y ago
Perhaps medical records are more 'viscerally' private to people than conversations with friends? It's easier to forget that big brother is recording everything you say when most of it is amiable chatter, but when it comes to having, say, incurable butt-warts, people become a lot more reticent, if only out of a fear of embarrassment. Personally, short of deleting my account, I stay as far away from Facebook as I can, and try to minimise the amount of data I share with other services, although some compromises are still necessary or at least sufficiently convenient.