Tweet

Foxglove

24 Feb, 8 tweets, 5 min read

@openDemocracy

🚨 NEW: We’ve filed a lawsuit with @openDemocracy defending YOUR right to a say about data deals between the NHS and Big Tech.

@Rowlsmanthorpe has the story, for @SkyNews.

Saddle up, people! 🏇 [THREAD] -

news.sky.com/story/nhs-faci…

@PalantirTech

Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen private firms creep into our public institutions at a shocking rate – through chummy, opaque backdoor deals.

One such deal was with @PalantirTech - a shady data firm that mainly works with the CIA, US cops, and ICE.

opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/cont…

Last year, the government signed the largest data deal in history between the NHS and giant tech firms – like Palantir and Faculty, a British AI start-up involved with the Vote Leave campaign.

We took legal action and, with your support, forced them to publish the contracts.

The Covid datastore is the largest pool of patient data *ever* in the UK. The government’s line all along has been that this is an emergency system. The blog announcing the deal said it would unwind at the end of the pandemic, and its data destroyed.

Looks like this wasn’t true.

@cr0ft0n

The truth?

Installing Palantir in the NHS was a long-term plan. @cr0ft0n at @TBIJ got his hands on emails proving Palantir’s been lobbying UK officials and NHS execs since at least 2019.

Read 'em here thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2021-0…

They show Baron David Prior, NHS England chair, was treated to dinner and watermelon cocktails by Palantir brass in July 2019 – right before NHSX’s launch party!

We think our NHS is worth more than a watermelon cocktail. #ThePinkDrinkStink

Looks like it worked. This massive new contract goes beyond Covid. It mentions Brexit, business monitoring, staffing & the flu.

In other words, it’s the beachhead for Palantir to play a permanent role in the health service. And it's been brokered without our say.

@MattHancock

Today, we’re telling the government they can’t install Big Tech permanently in the NHS without seeking the public’s views. Join our campaign by:

➡️ supporting our crowdfunder opendemocracy.net/en/save-our-nh…
➡️ Tweeting @MattHancock in a Twitterstorm - noon Friday ⛈️

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @Foxglovelegal

Foxglove

@Foxglovelegal

18 Nov 20

@Facebook

Breaking: More than 200 @Facebook content moderators (and supporting employees) from across the US and Europe have published a demand for better protections - and full employment rights - during the pandemic.

foxglove.org.uk/news/open-lett…

This is the biggest joint international effort of Facebook content moderators yet. We are proud to have worked with them to do it. Many more moderators in other sites wanted to sign, but were too intimidated by Facebook - these people are risking their livelihood to speak out.

@samfbiddle

They've taken that risk because Facebook has risked their lives by forcing content moderators back to the offices. Full FB staff are allowed to work from home - many mods have to come in, even with live Covid cases on the floor, as @samfbiddle reported: theintercept.com/2020/10/20/fac…

Read 9 tweets

Foxglove

@Foxglovelegal

16 Aug 20

@Ofqual

NEW: last night, @Ofqual pulled from its website its guidance about the algorithmic grading appeals process. We’re posting it and a letter we've sent this AM because we think it opens up a new ground of challenge. (tl;dr – it basically works like this) foxglove.org.uk/news/grading-a…

First, the position was that the algorithm was sacrosanct and more reliable than mock exams or teachers’ assessed grades.

Ofqual then changed tack, saying mock exams could be more reliable than the algorithm.

Read 5 tweets

Foxglove

@Foxglovelegal

14 Aug 20

THREAD: hundreds of you emailed in anguish about the unfair grading algorithm. This case affects you all, and we are asking for crowdfunding support (gofundme.com/f/fairgrades20…), so we wanted to post our letter as soon as possible. It’s at foxglove.org.uk/news/grading-a…. Key points:

Ofqual just hasn’t got the power to mark students based on an algorithm which actively ignores individual student performance for cohorts over 15. In law-speak, this is called ‘ultra vires’.

The algorithm is irrational – it treats teachers’ rankings as sacrosanct, yet teachers’ assessed grades are treated as either everything (under 5) or nothing (over 15).

Read 8 tweets

Foxglove

@Foxglovelegal

12 Aug 20

📢Potential new case Klaxon!📢

Thousands of A-level students get their “results” tomorrow. Covid-19 meant exams were cancelled. So, instead, their grades will in many cases have been generated by a hastily-built government algorithm.

We’ve got concerns about this algorithm.

Firstly, as is so often the case, there’s a lack of transparency about what this algorithm does and how it works.

This is unacceptable. Students have a right to understand how decisions which affect them are made. And algorithmic decision-making needs to be open to scrutiny.

Secondly, it appears the algorithm grades schools rather than students: “Where a subject has more than 15 entries in a school, teachers’ predicted grades will not be used”.

So an individual student’s life chances hang on an estimate based on their school’s historic performance.

Read 10 tweets

Foxglove

@Foxglovelegal

4 Aug 20

@JCWI_UK

HUGE news. From this Friday, the Home Office's racist visa algorithm is no more! 💃🎉 Thanks to our lawsuit (with @JCWI_UK) against this shadowy, computer-driven system for sifting visa applications, the Home Office have agreed to “discontinue the use of the Streaming Tool”.

Read the full letter the Home Office lawyers sent to us last night, here: foxglove.org.uk/news/home-offi…

This matters because racism and bias in the visa system inflicts untold misery and tears families apart, and excludes talented people from contributing to the UK. The visa algorithm was a key tool in this system, delivering computer-aided “speedy boarding for white people”.

Read 7 tweets

Foxglove

@Foxglovelegal

7 May 20

@openDemocracy

We've teamed up with @openDemocracy on a new case!

NHS health data is worth almost £10bn a year.

Data deals between tech firms and our NHS shouldn't be secret.

If we're giving access to Palantir and Google, people ought to see the terms of the deal. opendemocracy.net/en/we-need-urg…

@ConMijente

There are real questions about whether companies like Palantir have earned the public trust required to work with the NHS. Just ask @ConMijente, who know all about Palantir's support for ICE's deportation machine.

@oscwilliams

Think this is a temporary measure just for the crisis? Look out. @oscwilliams reports these companies want to sink their claws in for the long haul: tech.newstatesman.com/coronavirus/pa…

Read 7 tweets

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!