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Reposted by medConfidential

John Scott-Railton @jsrailton.bsky.social · 7d

NEW: UK asked Apple to backdoor iCloud encryption.

Backdoors create a massive target for hackers & criminal groups.

Dictators will inevitably demand that Apple do the same for them. 1/

www.ft.com/content/d101...

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Reposted by medConfidential

Sophie Dennis @sophiedennis.bsky.social · 11d

This is very good from @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social

Of note “Greater efficiency in public services [from Digital ID] did not come out in the research as a high priority for the general public, who instead want to see other improvements in their daily lives.”

Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · 11d

I don't have an issue with identity cards as a category. Some of my concerns about this particular announcement here www.careful.industries/blog/2025-9-...

Unpacking Digital ID - can the government deliver on its ambitions? — Careful Industries

A look at what has been proposed, how it might work, and whether it will be effective.

www.careful.industries

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · 12d

Or victims of crime?

Or would the Home Office want to link phone numbers required for the ID to the IMEIs of protestor devices?

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · 12d

Will people arrested at a protest for human rights action on Palestine have to unlock their phones to show their ID to the police?
bsky.app/profile/arts...

Kathryn Rose @artsyhonker.bsky.social · 12d

This is an important one, folks. The question isn't how ID cards would improve efficiency under a humane and sensible government, it's how they would be misused by, say, Nigel Farage to target brown people or queer people or disabled people or just white migrants like me who are a little weird.

Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · 13d

One of the unexpected things I've learned from my advocacy for trans people is how malignant parts of the State can be, how it can misuse data for positively evil purposes. It's taught me people can't be safe with a digital ID card and so I've signed this. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · 13d

It’s Labour’s conference week, so the Government is announcing digital ID cards and re-announcing its politically-controlled centralised database of all of your medical notes.

medconfidential.org/2025/single-...

Single Patient Record (and ID cards…) | medConfidential

medconfidential.org

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Aug 2

Blair’s institute wants your ID card to link to the NHS. When the report says “the PM should lead”, the report authors seem to mean TBI institute.global/insights/pub...

The NHS at a Crossroads: The App That Can Transform Britain’s Health

institute.global

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Reposted by medConfidential

Marcus Baw @marcusbaw.com · Jul 30

A new episode of Everything Digital Health just dropped:

The NHS Single Patient Record - with Sam Smith of MedConfidential

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Knp8bQJ47xg

Sam Smith from MedConfidential once again joins me on Everything Digital Health to discuss the pr...

The NHS Single Patient Record - with Sam Smith of MedConfidential

Sam Smith from MedConfidential once again joins me on Everything Digital Health to discuss the pr...

www.youtube.com

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Sam @smithsam.bsky.social · Jul 26

This might get noisy - US threatening to ban Peter Kyle and ofcom from US travel over OSA heavy handedness against Americans x.com/prestonjbyrn...?

Preston Byrne on X: "Ofcom has been sending several American clients pretty stupid letters over the last six months. Pinged the White House about it this morning. Got a callback 20 minutes later asking for recommendations for visa bans. What a time to be alive." / X

Ofcom has been sending several American clients pretty stupid letters over the last six months. Pinged the White House about it this morning. Got a callback 20 minutes later asking for recommendations for visa bans. What a time to be alive.

x.com

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 25

This pod by @taylorlorenz.bsky.social is about the US, but similar data linkage is happening in the UK for different political purposes - but political purposes are entirely dependent upon the interests of the politicians overcast.fm/+ABHI4Ur24Mg

ICE Is Building a Nationwide Tracking System (and Your Data is In It) — Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

Buy a subscription to my Tech and Online Culture newsletter, User Magazine to support my work!!!! 🙏 https://www.usermag.co The U.S. government is quietly building the largest surveillance system in mo...

overcast.fm

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 22

tools Gov is encouraging / mandating your doctors to use... bsky.app/profile/jxf....

John Feminella @jxf.me · Jul 22

Asking the OpenAI Whisper audio model to transcribe 30 seconds of silence generates the output "ترجمة نانسي قنقر", which is "translation by Nancy Qanqar".

Nancy Qanqar is a volunteer translator of (among other things) many pirated movies, so that invites an interesting conclusion on data sources.

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 16

NHS England will let Palantir and others develop algorithms to do this test this on NHS patient data, and Palantir's interoperability will allow "drag and drop" to the data mining tools that their US customers use against US women: appleinsider.com/articles/25/...

Apple Watch sensors are so good, it could provide the first pregnancy indicators

Apple's latest research shows that using a combination of Apple Watch sensors and all Apple Health data, results in a remarkably accurate pregnancy detector.

appleinsider.com

medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 15

Data always leaks - centralising your GP notes under the control of Secretary of State will mean someone can do something like this (and they can’t relocate your medical history)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Secret Afghan relocation scheme set up after major data breach

The existence of the scheme could not be reported until now because of a court injunction.

www.bbc.co.uk

medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 14

Starting to see how often access to patient notes is abused www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambrid...

'My sister died without justice': Hospital staff violate patients' privacy

A Freedom of Information request found that 59 members of staff at an NHS trust had wrongfully accessed patient records between 2020 and 2024

www.cambridge-news.co.uk

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Reposted by medConfidential

Marcus Baw @marcusbaw.com · Jul 11

In the latest episode of Everything Digital Health I chat to Sam Smith of @medconfidential.bsky.social about the NHS Federated Data Platform

what is it for?
what does it do?
why is it so unclear what its purposes are?
why are we using #Palantir to build it?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs4B...

The NHS Federated Data Platform Part 1: What Is It? with Sam Smith of MedConfidential

YouTube video by Everything Digital Health

www.youtube.com

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Marcus Baw @marcusbaw.com · Jul 11

But the following section included this great question from the Chair:

"Do you commit to this Committee that the Single Patient Record will be built on open standards, open source, and will not be proprietary"

parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

Parliamentlive.tv

Science, Innovation and Technology Committee

parliamentlive.tv

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Reposted by medConfidential

Marcus Baw @marcusbaw.com · Jul 11

The Parliamentary Science, Innovation and Technology Committee was super interesting this week - not only did it have a section on NHS England's #Palantir Federated Data Platform with Louis Mosley:

parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

Parliamentlive.tv

Science, Innovation and Technology Committee

parliamentlive.tv

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 10

Five rights and no more bsky.app/profile/mike...

Mike Stabile @mikestabile.bsky.social · Jul 10

Starting July 25, Bluesky will require users in the UK to scan their face, upload an ID or verify their identity with a bankcard.

I realize that platforms feel they have no choice but to comply with the government surveillance schemes, but shocking nonetheless.

Bluesky is rolling out age verification in the UK

Bluesky users in the UK can verify their age using their face, ID, or payment card.

www.theverge.com

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 8

This scathing assessment of the former leadership of ONS could equally apply to the unreformed leadership of HDR www.ft.com/content/a342...

Former ONS head was allowed to act ‘without check or balance’, says senior MP

Committee probes UK Statistics Authority’s role in overseeing Sir Ian Diamond, who resigned as national statistician in May

www.ft.com

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Reposted by medConfidential

Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · Jul 7

Each time the Labour government takes its tech policy from the Tony Blair Institute (every time Labour talks about tech "innovation")

we need to remind them their "tech experts" are employed by the "Let's blockchain the genocide" organisation.

This is how shiny, banal evil looks, sounds, and is.

Rachel Coldicutt @rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social · Jul 7

So many unfathomable stages to this, so many points which it would be possible to walk away, but to actually get as far as writing document with your pet list of bullshit bingo projects is completely shameless

While the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) did not author or endorse the final slide deck, two staff members at the former UK prime minister's institute participated in message groups and calls as the project developed, according to people familiar with the work.
One lengthy document on postwar Gaza, written by a TBI staff member, was shared within the group for consideration. This included the idea of a "Gaza Riviera" with artificial islands off the coast akin to those in Dubai, blockchain-based trade initiatives, a deep water port to tie Gaza into the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor, and low-tax
"special economic zones"

The FT then provided details of a 12-person message group used for the project - including two TBI staff, BCG consultants and the Israeli businessmen - and an unpublished TBI document shared within the group titled "Gaza Economic
Blueprint".
At this point, the TBI spokesperson said: "We have never said TBI knew nothing about what this group was working on or that they weren't on calls in which the group discussed their plans."

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 3

Looks like the 10yp confirms that the single patient record will be in FDP/Palantir (bottom right, page 84)

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 3

It’s not helpful to laugh at the faceplant, but this is very funny www.hsj.co.uk/policy-and-r...

Exclusive: 10-Year Plan published without delivery chapter

The government's 10-Year Health Plan has been published without a planned chapter on how the changes it proposes will be delivered.

www.hsj.co.uk

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 3

The plan has the vision of replacing GPs with chatbots and hospitals (it was written by the people who run hospitals, with those who make chatbots), so that point is right for a different reason

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 2

10 year plan: say goodbye to your data (and say goodbye to your GP)

medconfidential.org/2025/goodbye...

10 year plan: say goodbye to your data (and say goodbye to your GP) | medConfidential

medconfidential.org

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medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 2

We’ll have a blog post when the embargo drops

medConfidential @medconfidential.bsky.social · Jul 1

What will happen to the IDS linkage system now IDS has been abolished

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