I'm the Google whistleblower. The medical data of millions of Americans is at risk; The Guardian, November 14, 2019

Anonymous, The Guardian; I'm the Google whistleblower. The medical data of millions of Americans is at risk

"After a while I reached a point that I suspect is familiar to most whistleblowers, where what I was witnessing was too important for me to remain silent. Two simple questions kept hounding me: did patients know about the transfer of their data to the tech giant? Should they be informed and given a chance to opt in or out?

The answer to the first question quickly became apparent: no. The answer to the second I became increasingly convinced about: yes. Put the two together, and how could I say nothing?

So much is at stake. Data security is important in any field, but when that data relates to the personal details of an individual’s health, it is of the utmost importance as this is the last frontier of data privacy.

With a deal as sensitive as the transfer of the personal data of more than 50 million Americans to Google the oversight should be extensive. Every aspect needed to be pored over to ensure that it complied with federal rules controlling the confidential handling of protected health information under the 1996 HIPAA legislation."

The Blog That Disappeared; New York Times, 7/29/16

Roxane Gay, New York Times; The Blog That Disappeared:

"On June 27, Mr. Cooper’s Google account was deactivated, he has said. He lost 14 years of his blog archives, creative work, email and contacts. He has hired a lawyer and made complaints, and many of his readers and fans have tried to support his efforts. There is a petition circulating, urging Google to restore his work. Pen America, an organization that promotes free expression, has weighed in, saying that Mr. Cooper deserves a substantive response from Google.

Thus far, these efforts have been in vain. Google has not responded beyond saying there was a violation of the Terms of Service agreement. It has neither identified the specific violation nor indicated why it also deleted Mr. Cooper’s email account. It has not provided Mr. Cooper with the ability to download his personal information so he might rebuild his blog and email account elsewhere. In one interview, Mr. Cooper said he thought that the male escort ads might have led to his account’s being deactivated, but this has not been confirmed by the company.

When I contacted Google for further comment, I got a response that said, “We are aware of this matter, but the specific Terms of Service violations are ones we cannot discuss further due to legal considerations.” I asked about why Mr. Cooper’s Gmail account was also deleted and whether or not he would be able to retrieve the archive of his work, and I was directed to Google’s Terms of Service, Gmail Policy and Blogger Content Policy, which did not offer any useful specifics."

The House Votes Unanimously to Strengthen Email Privacy; New York Times, 4/29/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; The House Votes Unanimously to Strengthen Email Privacy:

"In a rare and remarkable display of bipartisanship, the House voted unanimously this week to strengthen a 30-year-old privacy law that governs how and when law enforcement agencies can obtain access to emails, photographs and other documents that people store online. If enacted, the changes will ensure that the law protects digital information as well as it does physical documents.

The bill will require law enforcement agencies to obtain search warrants from judges to gain access to personal messages and files stored on the servers of companies like Google, Yahoo and Dropbox. The legislation would substantially revise a 1986 law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, that allows agencies to get emails older than 180 days and other digital files by issuing subpoenas to technology companies without going to a judge.

This sensible update reflects how people store information today."