Data mining, artificial intelligence, and angels of death

Voluntarily worn fitness tracking devices are one thing, but Google has entered the realm of the brave new world. A government inquiry has brought to light Google’s “Nightingale Project” that collected private medical data from Ascension Health’s 2,600 sites of care across 20 states and D.C., unbeknownst to the patients. Dozens of Google employees had access to the data, which included lab results, physician diagnoses, hospitalization records and health histories, complete with patient names and...