[LINK] My letter to the local paper

[Karl Auer]

Hullo. I hope this crosspost will be forgiven. I am seeking input on a
proposed letter to my local paper. As best I can make it, it is
factually correct. I chose not to take issue with the purported
benefits, and only to point out the major risks.

Regards, K.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Opt out of My Health Record

The My Health Record system is founded on a betrayal of trust. The
Government got it approved as an opt-in system. Hardly anyone opted in,
so they changed the rules and made it opt-out instead.

You have until mid-October to opt out. This is the only chance you will

ever get. After that, the best you will be able to do is "cancel" your
record, which won't delete it. It will still be in the system and at
risk.
Hundreds of thousands of people will have
access to your record. Over the years, that will become millions. You
cannot control who uploads things into your record. You have no right
to check what is uploaded into your record. You cannot control who sees
your record. You cannot find out who has accessed your record, nor what
they do with it. You cannot correct or remove documents from your
record. 

The Government has made it very clear in the legislation that it
intends to make your medical data
available for commercial use and that your medical data may be used
against you by agencies such as the police and the ATO. The Government
says that will never happen - but the actual legislation says it can.

Maybe you trust the current government. But do you trust every future
Government for the next hundred years? Because that's how long they
plan to keep it.

This is not a party-political issue. Both sides seem fine with the idea
of defaulting all Australians into a huge, poorly-controlled, poorly-
protected, poorly curated database of dubious medical benefit.

The only way to protect yourself is to opt out. Seriously - do it now.

Karl Auer

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Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
http://twitter.com/kauer389

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