Documents obtained by openDemocracy suggest the UK government has misled the public about how it is protecting the privacy of millions of NHS users in its major Covid-19 data deals – and about how the controversial tech firms involved stand to profit in the long term.
Two weeks after the government bowed to pressure from openDemocracy and tech justice firm Foxglove to publish the contracts governing its ‘unprecedented’ deals with Google, Microsoft and AI firms Faculty and Palantir, experts have raised a number of concerns with the current terms of the deals.
They have warned that NHS users could be re-identified from their health data, that the firms could profit from the intellectual property generated from the project (despite assurances to the contrary), and that contracts pave the way for unprecedented, long-term access to the NHS by unaccountable private firms.
