I fully expected to read the details and see that the headline was some sort of hyperbole, as these things nearly always are. I'm still hoping someone will tell me this isn't real.
This seems downright evil. Disgusting. There is no justifiable reason for this data to be available in any sort of unanonymized form. Everything that is justifiable that can be achieved with it in anonymous form can be achieved with it anonymized.
The terrible part is that there is a good reason for a program like this. There are real reasons to collect and know this kind of data - it can make a huge difference to human health and well being. And that is why this is so bad. It's going to set back participation in any sort of electronic health record all around the world, if people see such a high profile program manifest as a privacy disaster.
The misunderstanding going on in the comments seems to be stemming from a failure to distinguish between personal identifiable data and personal confidential data.
The former:
"This includes patient identifiable data, such as:
NHS number
Name
Address
Postcode
Date of Birth
Date of Death"
and the latter:
"Personal confidential data also includes sensitive data which may include items such as:
Racial or ethnic origin
Political opinions
Religious or other similar beliefs
Physical or mental health condition
Sexual life
Criminal record"
The patient identifiable needs explicit permission from the patient in order to obtain, patient confidential needs a good legal reason + reviewed application.
The patient identifiable needs explicit permission from the patient in order to obtain - please could you link me to the official document that states this, specifically in the context of care.data?
This seems downright evil. Disgusting. There is no justifiable reason for this data to be available in any sort of unanonymized form. Everything that is justifiable that can be achieved with it in anonymous form can be achieved with it anonymized.
The terrible part is that there is a good reason for a program like this. There are real reasons to collect and know this kind of data - it can make a huge difference to human health and well being. And that is why this is so bad. It's going to set back participation in any sort of electronic health record all around the world, if people see such a high profile program manifest as a privacy disaster.