A UK watchdog has ruled that a trust of the National Health Service violated privacy law when it provided the details of 1.6 million patients to Google’s DeepMind in a medical trial last year.
The UK’s Information Commission (ICO) has ruled that a London hospital failed to comply with data protection laws when it issued patient information to Google’s DeepMind as part of a medical trial last year.
A report issued by the ICO details how the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead, London provided the details of more than a million patients to DeepMind, a British artificial intelligence company that was acquired by Google in 2014.
The trial involved the development of an app called Streams, which helped doctors and medical staff to identify when a patient was at risk of developing acute kidney injury (AKI) . Throughout the course of the trial, the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust provided information on 1.6 million patients to DeepMind.
An investigation by the ICO revealed « several shortcomings » on the handling of the data, and the ICO further stated that patients were not « adequately informed » on how their data was to be used- a violation of the UK’s Data Protection Act.
Elizabeth Denham, the information commissioner, stated the following:
As a result of the investigation, the Royal Free NHS Trust has signed an undertaking to « commit to making changes » to address shortcomings with how the data was handled. The terms of the undertaking can be viewed in the report issued by the ICO.
Source: The ICO via BBC News | Image via CIO
