‘digital health will lead to forms of enslavement we can barely imagine’
Author and Consultant Gastroenterologist Dr. Seamus O’Mahony:
Perhaps most alarming of all is his analysis of the future of the world of digital health – “Anyone with a smartphone will be monitoring themselves, or – more likely – will be monitored by some external agency. Health and life insurance companies will offer financial inducements to people to be monitored, and big corporations will undoubtedly make the wearing of health-tracking devices mandatory. The danger of all of this is that in countries where health care is paid for by insurance, a new underclass of uninsured people will emerge. Digital health,” he points out, “is presented as something empowering, but the reality is that it will lead to forms of enslavement that we can barely imagine. Facebook and Google have shown how easily people hand over their privacy and personal data in return for a few shiny trinkets. They have also shown how this personal data can be monetised.”
(tags: health medicine tracking privacy insurance surveillance data)