The article “Should Google Tell You if You Have Cancer?” really drew my attention. While reading this I just felt pretty uncomfortable. I really hate how companies can keep all this information about you. I think that it is in no way Google’s right to let me know that I might be ill. I think that if someone were already Googleing symptoms they are already aware that they should probably go see a doctor. I do not think Google should be able to diagnose me. Doctor’s offices already have a crazy amount of laws that are placed to protect privacy. Patients deserve to have privacy and Google taking tabs on what someone is searching hoping to diagnose something just seems like a huge invasion of that privacy. I think that Google has already gone a little too far. It already knows my schedule and warns me when I have an upcoming concert that I am attending. I think it is weird that Google knows where I will be on certain nights. And now they want the ability to track my search history to try to diagnose me? It all just seems like way too much for me.
What this really comes down to in my head the question of whether or not you would take the opportunity to know when you will die. I would not want to know. I’d rather live in ignorance. I do not want Google to tell me without any sort of warning or anything. Maybe if they added a feature that warns you first (“We think you might be sick, click here to find out for sure”). I just think it would be really uncomfortable to go on my computer one morning to check the news or Reddit or Facebook and the first thing that pops up is “Google thinks you have pancreatic cancer. Go see a doctor”. That would totally ruin my morning.
One quote from the reading that stuck out to me was “As a result of the negative press, Google stopped running Flu Trends internally, and handed the data to third-party academics, instead”. I think this sums up how people feel towards them getting involved with diseases and treatments. People are creeped out about it. When they tried to do something like this before they ended up stopping it because of a great deal of criticism.