"To avoid that risk, you might consider pointing out errors and untruths specifically and explicitly."
Sure: what are the specific actual harms that have occurred in Australia by the government knowing too much? Be specific. Name a few. (I won't count getting done for tax dodging and crime. Other than that, I have trouble coming up with anything) Build an equivalent list of harms caused by the government now knowing enough, and I think you will find the not-knowing list absolutely swamps the knowing list. The harm from the government knowing things like your health record is as far I can see primarily a ideological harm. Or, to put it more concretely a "harm" against a emotionally powerful mythology. The problem is that anyone can make up scary stories. I'm strongly in favor of evidence. That's my ideology, if you like. Gather facts, not narratives. Do the accounting. In fact, medicine is replete with examples of information failure. The government is right now, subsidising operations, tests, and treatments that have no good evidence base. And this is not harm-free: there is a waiting list for operations with a powerful quality-of-life evidence base like hip replacements. I don't have a problem with taxation, I actually want to live in a high taxation country, but I do want to see taxes used in a reality-based way. The forerunner to MyHR in Australia was a system of centralised shared records set up to to improve aboriginal health in northern Australia. Check it out, it is regarded as massively useful. Sure, linkers are a different demographic - educated, middle-class, economically successful who generally do better at self-managing health - but we aren't Australia. Getting good medical data to validate treatments is hard and expensive. Countries with good centralised health - eg Scandinavia - produce a steady stream of useful research that moves medical science and practice along. There is no reason Australia should not be contributing to global well-being in this way. (As I see it, certainly not on the basis of fluffy, emotionally-reactive libertarian philosophies.) Cheers Jim On Mon, 23 Jul 2018 at 17:24, Karl Auer <ka...@biplane.com.au> wrote: > On Mon, 2018-07-23 at 14:20 +1000, Jim Birch wrote: > > Fake news (i.e. stories that are designed to get the juices flowing) > > travel faster and further. Reality comes a long second. > > Hm. Not sure if you are accusing me and/or David of generating "fake > news" or not. > > Truisms positioned to cast deniable doubt on a nearby statement[1] are > one stock in trade of those who really DO attack the truth. By using > such a device, you risk being considered such a person. > > To avoid that risk, you might consider pointing out errors and untruths > specifically and explicitly. > > Regards, K. > > [1] Happy to explain this device further if needed. I've left the > "juxtaposed statement", i.e. the quote you were apparently responding > to, below, so people can see what I mean. A worked example of something > very similar can be found here: http://biplane.com.au/blog/?p=282 > > > On Mon, 23 Jul 2018 at 13:54, David <dloch...@key.net.au> wrot > > > > > > On Sunday, 22 July 2018 17:22:53 AEST Karl Auer wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > 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. > > > > > > I thought it was possible for an individual to at least display > > > their > > > record, I assume all of it (?), and to be notified when it was > > > accessed. > > > However whether this would be honoured for all time, even if true, > > > is not > > > guaranteed. > > > > > > I think it would be worth repeating the URL of the opt-out page > > > too. > > > > > > DavidL. > > -- > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Karl Auer (ka...@biplane.com.au) > http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer > http://twitter.com/kauer389 > > GPG fingerprint: A0CD 28F0 10BE FC21 C57C 67C1 19A6 83A4 9B0B 1D75 > Old fingerprint: A52E F6B9 708B 51C4 85E6 1634 0571 ADF9 3C1C 6A3A > > > _______________________________________________ > Link mailing list > Link@mailman.anu.edu.au > http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link > _______________________________________________ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
