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You May Feel Differently About Your Private Medical Data After Reading This

When it comes to their own personal data, most people would prefer at least some level of privacy. That’s increasingly the case as the environment heats up with events like the one we just witnessed with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. Now, as GDPR is heightening global awareness of privacy matters, some are taking action and making demands.

In a melting pot where privacy and monopoly concerns merge, the “Freedom from Facebook” movement seeks to break up the social media behemoth, claiming the platform is just too powerful. We can expect this movement and others like it to grow, especially if the EU questioning of Mark Zuckerberg reveals that the Cambridge Analytica problem was just the tip of the iceberg.

But there’s one area of the data ecosystem where people often take a different stance on privacy. From a certain perspective, the sharing of one’s personal data is seen as philanthropic… even necessary. In what might seem like a parallel, Bizarro World, people are even willing (and eager) to share their data with the corporate powerhouses of the world.

I’m talking about the medical research environment. When the sharing of personal data can be linked to advances in medicine that could improve or even save lives, privacy takes on a whole different set of implications.

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