Science communicator Sabine Hossenfeld has some news that may go a very
long way to preserving our privacy.

Building on research from the 1970s, it is now possible to encrypt
your data while also sharing it with others who
can use it but NOT decrypt it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BI0FDeN-Sg [6 minutes]

This has some personal relevance to me. I recently bought a home blood
pressure monitor so that I can take my blood pressure any time without
having to find a drugstore that has one for public use or waiting
until I can get in to see the doctor. As I was setting it up, I was
asked to consent a whole lot of my data being shared with a whole lot
of organizations that I did not know. Not just health data but also
name, address, phone number, address, etc. etc. I did *not* like giving
up so much privacy to so many strangers. As it happened, this consent
needed to be granted for me to be able to download the app that would
work with the blood pressure monitor but the model I'd bought does NOT
yet have an app for it so I found that I didn't need to accept these
terms of use. I was very happy to discover that the monitor still worked without having to use the app so that's what I'll do. I won't get the
app at all and will just measure my blood pressure at my convenience
without giving up my privacy.

When they eventually release the app for my monitor, I will only
consent to the release of my data if it takes advantage of the
technology described in the video.

--
Rhino

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Science communicator Sabine Hossenfeld has some news that may go a very
long way to preserving our privacy.

Building on research from the 1970s, it is now possible to encrypt
your data while also sharing it with others who
can use it but NOT decrypt it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BI0FDeN-Sg [6 minutes]

This has some personal relevance to me. I recently bought a home blood >pressure monitor so that I can take my blood pressure any time without
having to find a drugstore that has one for public use or waiting
until I can get in to see the doctor. As I was setting it up, I was
asked to consent a whole lot of my data being shared with a whole lot
of organizations that I did not know. Not just health data but also
name, address, phone number, address, etc. etc. I did *not* like giving
up so much privacy to so many strangers. As it happened, this consent
needed to be granted for me to be able to download the app that would
work with the blood pressure monitor but the model I'd bought does NOT
yet have an app for it so I found that I didn't need to accept these
terms of use. I was very happy to discover that the monitor still worked >without having to use the app so that's what I'll do. I won't get the
app at all and will just measure my blood pressure at my convenience
without giving up my privacy.

When they eventually release the app for my monitor, I will only
consent to the release of my data if it takes advantage of the
technology described in the video.

Doesn't being asked to give up privacy raise your blood pressure, so
isn't offering you all those consent forms to sign contraindicated?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Sat, 16 Mar 2024 18:35:35 -0000 (UTC)
"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

Science communicator Sabine Hossenfeld has some news that may go a
very long way to preserving our privacy.

Building on research from the 1970s, it is now possible to encrypt
your data while also sharing it with others who
can use it but NOT decrypt it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BI0FDeN-Sg [6 minutes]

This has some personal relevance to me. I recently bought a home
blood pressure monitor so that I can take my blood pressure any time >without having to find a drugstore that has one for public use or
waiting until I can get in to see the doctor. As I was setting it
up, I was asked to consent a whole lot of my data being shared with
a whole lot of organizations that I did not know. Not just health
data but also name, address, phone number, address, etc. etc. I did
*not* like giving up so much privacy to so many strangers. As it
happened, this consent needed to be granted for me to be able to
download the app that would work with the blood pressure monitor but
the model I'd bought does NOT yet have an app for it so I found that
I didn't need to accept these terms of use. I was very happy to
discover that the monitor still worked without having to use the app
so that's what I'll do. I won't get the app at all and will just
measure my blood pressure at my convenience without giving up my
privacy.

When they eventually release the app for my monitor, I will only
consent to the release of my data if it takes advantage of the
technology described in the video.

Doesn't being asked to give up privacy raise your blood pressure, so
isn't offering you all those consent forms to sign contraindicated?

I think they just assumed that I'd just consent without clicking the
links to read the terms of service first. That's what almost
everyone does. (I know that because when I was doing tech support, I
regularly helped people install things. There were agreements to be
read and then signed but I only ever saw one customer actually stop to
read the fine print before consenting.)

--
Rhino

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)