4 ms·

It's unexpected that they're coming at this from an abortion angle... but I'm all for it. Just last month it was reported that the CDC was buying troves of thi

It's unexpected that they're coming at this from an abortion angle... but I'm all for it. Just last month it was reported that the CDC was buying troves of this data (from the same vendor Warren is calling out) to monitor millions of us without our permission. Similarly DHS, ICE, and the FBI have all been found to be buying this data -- which is a legal loophole to get around actually getting a warrant. I hope lawmakers don't carve out any exceptions for government in any such ban.

kelnos 4y ago
> It's unexpected that they're coming at this from an abortion angle Even if there was a chance that the GOP would let this through the Senate on its own merits, tying this to abortion-related issues all but guarantees this bill is dead.
- robonerd 4y ago
  I fear you're right. There are some privacy issues GOP voters care about though; privacy regulations could also be framed in terms of protecting private gun sales for instance. Or to prohibit stores from keeping track of who the preppers are (those that care probably pay with cash already, but what about facial recognition in the stores? Frame that as a threat, and prohibit it.)
  - throwaway894345 4y ago
- throwaway894345 4y ago
  I have to think that she knows as much too. It's a bad bill (it would be ruinous for healthcare research), and I think it's more about scoring points with pro-choice and pro-privacy voters than it is about actually passing policy (at least I hope she wouldn't seriously try to upend healthcare research).
throwaway894345 4y ago
Based on TFA, this bill sounds disastrous for healthcare research which depends on access to this sort of data to find treatments and cures for diseases like cancer, HIV, COVID, etc. I'm all for preventing advertisers from sweeping up our data, but a blanket ban on the sale of healthcare data would be lethally short-sighted (note that "personally identifiable" healthcare data is already protected by HIPAA, so I'm pretty sure this bill aims to eliminate the sale of "de-identified" healthcare data).

kelnos 4y ago

> It's unexpected that they're coming at this from an abortion angle Even if there was a chance that the GOP would let this through the Senate on its own merits, tying this to abortion-related issues all but guarantees this bill is dead.

robonerd 4y ago
I fear you're right. There are some privacy issues GOP voters care about though; privacy regulations could also be framed in terms of protecting private gun sales for instance. Or to prohibit stores from keeping track of who the preppers are (those that care probably pay with cash already, but what about facial recognition in the stores? Frame that as a threat, and prohibit it.)
- throwaway894345 4y ago
throwaway894345 4y ago
I have to think that she knows as much too. It's a bad bill (it would be ruinous for healthcare research), and I think it's more about scoring points with pro-choice and pro-privacy voters than it is about actually passing policy (at least I hope she wouldn't seriously try to upend healthcare research).

throwaway894345 4y ago

Based on TFA, this bill sounds disastrous for healthcare research which depends on access to this sort of data to find treatments and cures for diseases like cancer, HIV, COVID, etc. I'm all for preventing advertisers from sweeping up our data, but a blanket ban on the sale of healthcare data would be lethally short-sighted (note that "personally identifiable" healthcare data is already protected by HIPAA, so I'm pretty sure this bill aims to eliminate the sale of "de-identified" healthcare data).