Facebook junks project to collect patients' health data: Report
San Francisco, April 6: In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data breach, Facebook has reportedly suspended a research project where it was in touch with several major US hospitals to collect data about their patients.
According to a report in CNBC late Thursday, Facebook aimed to build profiles of patients and help the hospitals, including Stanford Medical School and American College of Cardiology, figure out which patients may need special care or treatment.
"This work has not progressed past the planning phase, and we have not received, shared, or analysed anyone's data," a Facebook spokesperson told CNBC.
A Facebook statement said: "Last year Facebook began discussions with leading medical institutions to explore whether scientific research using anonymised Facebook data could help the medical community advance our understanding in this area.
"The project could have raised new concerns about the massive amount of data Facebook collects about its users, and how this data can be used in ways users never expected."
Facebook, however, told The Verge that the patient data would instead be used more generally.
"The project would not attempt to provide health recommendations for specific people. Instead, the focus would be on producing general insights that would help medical professionals take social connectedness into account as they develop treatment or intervention programmes for their patients," a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Facebook has admitted that information of up to 87 million people, mostly in the US, may have been improperly shared with the British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.
Private data of over 5.6 lakh Indian Facebook users was also compromised by a private marketing firm that later sold the personal details acquired through a quiz app to Cambridge Analytica.
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Woman kills teenage daughter before taking own life in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): A 45-year-old woman allegedly smothered her 13-year-old daughter before taking her own life at their residence in the Whitefield area of the city on Tuesday, police said.
The deceased were identified as Suvarna, a homemaker and her daughter Tarunya, they said.
The incident occurred around 11 am. When police reached the spot, they found that the woman had allegedly smothered the girl and later died by suicide by hanging herself, a senior police officer said.
Suvarna’s husband, Chandrashekhar, who works as a compounder at a private hospital in the city, was at work when the incident occurred, the officer added.
Preliminary investigation suggests that the woman may have been suffering from psychiatric issues.
She reportedly used to worry about her daughter's future in the event of her own death.
Two cases have been registered in connection with the incident.
One was filed based on a complaint by Chandrashekhar alleging the killing of his daughter, while another was lodged by Suvarna’s brother, Manjunath, expressing suspicion about the deaths, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
