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Mar 17, 2023 • 5 tweets • 4 min read
‼️NEW: an @openDemocracy investigation has found that every hospital in England has been told to put patient data into Palantir *this month*.
This is a clear breach of the gov't's promise not to extend Palantir's NHS role without talking to the public. opendemocracy.net/en/palantir-pe…
We are aware of no legal basis for this.
It also creates 'facts on the ground' to help Palantir win a huge £480m deal for the 'operating system for the NHS' - the FDP.
We’re back up at Coventry for the midway point in the weeklong #AmazonStrike with hot drinks and snacks for the picket line, with @GMBMidlands and @GMBStuart! Excited for tonight’s rally ✊✊✊
Builder’s tea and pastries keeping folks on the picket warm 😊☕️🥐
Mar 15, 2023 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
🚨🚨🚨NEW: we've suing the gov't over the half-a-billion pound NHS Federated Data Platform with our amazing partners at @JustTreatment, @TheDA_UK & @NPCUK.
It looks like the #GPDataGrab on steroids + gov’t is refusing to reveal the details. Read more: thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/…
If you’re worried about the Federated Data Platform too, use our tool to quickly write to your MP and ask them to kick the tyres of this deal – urgently: foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/dont…
Mar 15, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
“We shouldn’t have to struggle. We shouldn’t have to work 60 hours a week just to pay our bills.
“We just want to be able to live and to provide for our families.”
Watch this video to see why Amazon workers in Coventry are striking this week:
Coventry workers are today halfway through their weeklong #AmazonStrike as they #Fightfor15.
After the first-ever UK Amazon strike in January, this weeklong action is an amazing step up. Hats off to all workers on the picket line and @GMBMidlands! ✊
Jul 21, 2021 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
The government’s bill on judicial review is published today. The spin says it’s only for lefty lawyers. That’s not true👇
We used it last summer with @mashedkeyboard to defend fair grades for every A level student. They chanted ‘f*ck the algorithm’ then the JR case made the government scrap it: foxglove.org.uk/2020/08/17/we-…
Jul 20, 2021 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
🚨VICTORY in our #NHSDataGrab case! Last night the government announced a serious roll back - they’re going to do (some of) what our coalition has been asking for all along. Sometimes it takes a legal threat to get gov to do the right thing. More here 👇 digital.nhs.uk/news-and-event…
Govt has announced they’ve FINALLY agreed to a proper information campaign. They’ve said they’ll make sure we ALL know what is happening to our GP data. We really, really hope it happens but we’re certainly not taking their word for it. We will be watching 👀 - so stay tuned!
Jun 8, 2021 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
🚨BREAKING🚨: @Jochurchill4 has just announced the government is CAVING on the deadline for the #NHSDataGrab.
“We will take some extra time." Implementation now 1 Sept.
People, we've managed to win more time!
WATCH: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/0a…
"We will use this time to talk to patients, doctors, health charities, doctors, and others to strengthen the plan, build a trusted research environment, and ensure that data is accessed securely." - Jo Churchill
Jun 7, 2021 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Listen to @cori_crider here from 35:30 asking why NHS Digital dropped out of a planned debate with us today on @bbc5live on the #NHSDataGrab: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
We think it’s probably because NHS Digital actually *agrees* with us that patients need more time to learn about the data grab and to choose whether or not to opt-out, as the BBC reported here: bbc.co.uk/news/technolog…
Jun 5, 2021 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
☀️Morning!☀️ There’s been a TON of news in our NHS GP data grab case – here’s the latest for people catching up.
First, we teamed up with five organisations and an MP to take this scheme to court and try to win everyone more time:
We’re asking everyone to join us in doing the same: nopalantir.org.uk
[THREAD]
Palantir, whom you might remember from 🍉 cocktail fame, is using COVID-19 to get their hooks into our NHS. They were brought in without public consultation or open procurement, and we had to threaten a lawsuit to get information about their data deal:
⏰BREAKING: HMG quietly rolled out a scheme to seize - & sell access to - the health data of every man, woman, and child in England. Patients weren’t asked.
Legal issues? We think so. So we helped @JustTreatment send a legal letter. @madhumita29 in @FT: ft.com/content/9fee81…
In many ways, this fight is about the future of the NHS.
The NHS sits atop the most valuable trove of health data in the world. Why? For years, your GP record has been stored not in doctor's scrawled notes but using GP codes, which a computer can 'read'. (h/t @marcus_baw)
Mar 30, 2021 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
📢NEW📢: we've won the Palantir case!
At last, officials admit YOU have a right to a say in long-term deals between the NHS and US tech firms like Palantir.
It only took us a year, thousands of you speaking up, and two court cases with @openDemocracy to get there!
Here’s our write-up by @martyftz and @cori_crider.
They’ve hit pause – they won’t extend Palantir’s NHS role beyond Covid without stopping to consider our rights, and ask.
This is a major step. NHS now says they’ll consult the public.
news.sky.com/story/nhs-faci…
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.
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.
Aug 16, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
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.
Aug 14, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
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’.
Aug 12, 2020 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
📢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.
Aug 4, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
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…
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…
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.
