Category Archives: VARIOUS IN THE NEWS

HALTE AU HEALTH DATA HUB

Dans une analyse du 17 mars 2021, La Quadrature du Net expose les soubassements idéologiques du projet français de centralisation des données de santé, le Health Data Hub, entouré des fantasmes d’I.A et de compétitivité. Elle alerte sur ses dangers, depuis les atteintes à la vie privée jusqu’à l’accélération vers un système de santé déshumanisé, et demande :

  • L’arrêt du développement du HDH, dans l’attente d’une remise à plat de ses objectifs et son fonctionnement ;
  • L’arrêt du contrat d’hébergement conclu avec Microsoft
  • Un changement de paradigme faisant de l’accès aux données de santé de la population française par le secteur privé l’exception plutôt que la norme.

“Projet central du « Plan national pour l’intelligence artificielle » (surnommé « AI for humanity« ), le « Health Data Hub » (HDH) est un projet visant à centraliser l’ensemble des données de santé de la population française. Il est prévu que le HDH regroupe, entre autres, les données de la médecine de ville, des pharmacies, du système hospitalier, des laboratoires de biologie médicale, du dossier médical partagé, de la médecine du travail, des EHPAD ou encore les données des programmes de séquençage de l’ADN [1].

Le HDH se substitue à une structure existante, le Système National de Données de Santé, avec deux principales modifications : un large élargissement des données collectées et un accès facilité, en particulier pour le secteur privé (GAFAM, « medtechs », startup, assureurs…), à ces dernières. A noter que les décrets officialisant les critères de sélection des projets ayant accès aux données ne sont toujours pas parus. Son objectif est donc, via leur centralisation, de faciliter l’utilisation de nos données de santé par le plus grand nombre d’acteurs de manière à, selon ses promoteurs-rices, « faire de la France un pays leader de l’intelligence artificielle » [2].

Ce projet, mené sans réelle concertation publique, est au centre de nombreuses controverses. Le choix du gouvernement de confier son hébergement à Microsoft, dans l’opacité la plus totale et malgré un avis particulièrement sévère de la CNIL, a soulevé de nombreuses protestations. Alors même que les critiques s’intensifiaient, le gouvernement a profité de l’état d’urgence sanitaire pour accélérer son développement, décision qui fut attaquée en justice par le collectif Interhop. Edward Snowden lui-même a pris position contre ce projet en dénonçant une capitulation du gouvernement devant « le cartel du Cloud ».

CONTINUER À LIRE >> Health Data Hub: du fantasme de l’intelligence artificielle à la privatisation de nos données de santé, par La Quadrature du Net

NO US EXTRADITION! FREE ASSANGE NOW !

What a start of the year.

After weeks and two rounds of hearing extradition, on monday 4th 2020, district judge Vanessa Baraister rendered the verdict that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the USA… while setting a disastrous precedent endangering press freedom worldwide!

The reason invoked not to extradite Assange is that it would be unjust and oppressive to extradite him by reason of his medical condition, especially his mental condition, with a high risk of suicide should he be sent to the hell of US detention system and their Special Administrative Measures aka SAM…

Theses reasons are similar to the ones invoked in Lauri Love‘s case, which saved him from being extradited to the USA and probably saved his life too. In the case of USA vs Assange, the medical reasons were among other reasons to reject the requested extradition advanced by his defence team. Indeed, there are other very valid reasons not to extradite Assange, such as the political offence exception, blatant abuses of process in his case… as one will recall reading the defence closing submissions.

Yet Vanessa Baraister shockingly chose to dismiss them all, thus basically endorsing all of US Government toxic narratives, their preposterous and dangerous accusations against Julian Assange, his work as a journalist and WikiLeaks. This verdict is a bit as if she were saying: “I would have extradited Mr Assange to the USA so he could be prosecuted there for espionage – an unprecedented attack on journalism but hey, no problem – but unfortunately he is too weak and your prisons are actually way worse than ours, so he stays here, sorry”

Does this mean that any other journalist revealing US war crimes now or in the future, in the UK, who is healthy, not completely destroyed by years of arbitrary detention and torture, would be a good candidate for extradition and prosecution in the USA? Is that what this means? UK, you must resist harder.

So whilst we celebrate this important first step towards freedom for Assange because it is a move in the right direction, one that can save his life, we insist that he has yet to be freed, from jail, and hope that bail will be granted wednesday, and from then on freed from all prosecution. The USA must drop the charges! Sadly for now, the US prosecution intends to appeal… so, much remains to be done.

Indeed we see that this verdict has yet to transform into a victory for the freedom of the press, because at present the door is still wide open to the utter destruction of our rights to know, to speak, to choose a future. The precedent about censoring press freedom, and further disclosure of confidential information of public interest seems set already… Come on people, come on UK, put an end to this abomination!

Last but not least, we are immensely grateful to all who have been working relentlessly for years for justice, for our rights, for Assange’s life and his freedom. Every step, every stand, every shout counted. This is not over so let’s keep on keeping on, although to eat, drink and be merry is certainly a bit in order now too so we all refill our hopes and courage 🙂

To UN rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer, to the witnesses who gave their statements in court, to Sondra Crosby and all doctors who have been caring for Assange, who documented the abuse, who consistently rang the alarm and helped build the last barrier that may very well save his life, to all supporters worldwide: THANK YOU <3

Julian Assange is not the only one in jail, persecuted or killed for telling truth to power, today in the so called west and across the world.

This fight is a fight for all.

May 2021 be the year where justice prevails and persecuted, threatened, imprisoned truth-tellers, whistleblowers, journalists, activists, political prisoners, are freed.

For more information visit

>> Julian Assange extradition hearing: Disctrict Court Ruling, by Don’t Extradite Assange

>> https://challengepower.info/

>> https://defend.wikileaks.org/2021/01/05/judge-blocks-julian-assanges-extradition-on-medical-grounds/

WikiLeaks & Assange films & videos

The UK Don’t Extradite Assange campaign has put together a list of films on WikiLeaks, Whistleblowing, Free speech + all episodes of Julian Assange Show The World Tomorrow + a selection of Julian Assange talks, categorized by topics like Media / Power / Hope.

Instructive and valuable then, instructive and valuable now.

<3

“The WikiLeaks official Don’t Extradite Assange campaign announces an online film festival – The WikiLeaks Lockdown List. Our contribution to those who are following medical advice and self-isolating due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The WikiLeaks Lockdown List contains free films and talks you can watch to learn more about WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, whistleblowing, activism and seeking justice. Share this list and support our campaign to free Julian Assange. Please take care of yourself and those around you during this time.”

> WikiLeaks lockdown list

+

NO one should die in prison, not during an epidemic, not ever

Current circumstances are very worrying

> Sign petition to release Julian Assange from Belmarsh before Covid-19 spreads

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STOP THE ABUSE. PROTECTION & CARE FOR ASSANGE

 Many facts about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks were distorted, omitted, made up, or amounted to smearing, during the organization’s numerous releases campaigns, and in the legal cases their founder was involved in over the years. 
Recently, various outlets published private photographic and video materials from inside the embassy, sneaky peaks at Assange’s life inside which ought to be denounced as cruel voyeurism, not news.         
        
Indeed, M.D. Sondra S. Crosby, the doctor who examined Assange several times during his political asylum in the embassy stated, in a letter to  the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, that «the synergestic and cumulative severity of the pain and suffering inflicted on Mr. Assange—both physical and psychological—is in violation of the 1984 Convention Against Torture, Article 1 and Article 16. ». She believes « the psychological, physical, and social sequelae will be long lasting and severe ». Doctor Sean Love, who also examined Assange, concurs. He wrote last year that « Assange’s detention continues to cause a precipitous deterioration in his overall condition and amounts to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment». The First in-depth assessments of the psychological and physical effects that the severely restrictive conditions of confinement within the Embassy have had on Assange date back from 2015. So yes, watching pale prisoner Assange skateboard after hours, trying to stay fit inside the walls of his arbitrary detention is cruel voyeurism, it is not newsworthy at all. Worse even, it comes in the context of a criminal extortion scheme, where possessors of the materials tried to extort millions from Assange. This was revealed in a press conference by WikiLeaks and is the subject of a police investigation in Spain.         
        
Not only did Julian Assange suffer greatly from confinement and intense stress during his political asylum, his privacy inside the embassy was not respected. His alone time, as well as visits and interviews with friends, family, and even lawyers and doctors, were spied upon and recorded.         
        
This privacy breach – and following that breach, the publication of private materials by media – appears to be the continuation by other means of the abuse of an already vulnerable and weakened person, a political refugee what’s more, and a serious matter. Not only a matter of privacy, also a matter of « attorney-client confidentiality, a matter of journalistic freedom and protection of sources », as noted by the UN Special Rapporteur on Privacy, who is investigating the case and visited Assange in Belmarsh prison.
        
As for the « arbitrary detention » of Julian Assange, it is also a matter that was investigated by the UN, may we recall once more, it is not a figure of speech. It is the opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Julian Assange’s years inside the embassy were indeed years of arbitrary detention, as they carefully deliberated in 2015-16 : 
        
«The Working Group considered that Mr. Assange has been subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty: initial detention in Wandsworth prison which was followed by house arrest and his confinement at the Ecuadorian Embassy. Having concluded that there was a continuous deprivation of liberty, the Working Group also found that the detention was arbitrary because he was held in isolation during the first stage of detention and because of the lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor in its investigations, which resulted in the lengthy detention of Mr. Assange. The Working Group found that this detention is in violation of Articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 7, 9(1), 9(3), 9(4), 10 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and falls within category III as defined in its Methods of Work. »7
        
In passing, we note that the observed «Lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor in its investigations, which resulted in the lengthy detention of Mr. Assange» has not been much reported on since Julian Assange exerted his right to political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy. One could argue such “lack of diligence” did not serve well any of the parties involved, neither the women nor Assange, but the states involved, who cared more about neutralizing Assange than they did about justice. For clarification and reflection about the alleged rape and molestation case involving Assange and two women in Sweden in 2010, there are good reads, such as the works of Stefania Maurizi, John Pilger, and more recently Jim Kavanagh
        
Now Julian Assange’s fear of a sealed indictment in the USA and of an extradition request from the US has been confirmed, in the hours after he was handed over by Lenin Moreno’s Ecuador to the UK Metropolitan Police that gloomy morning of April 2019. He faces years in a maximum security jail, unfair trial, further cruel treatments, or death. 
It is urgent to fight for his rights, his life, and with him and WikiLeaks for the freedom of the press. Ultimately, for the rights of everyone to live in a hospitable world, where compassion, altruism, courage are key, knowledge circulates in the hands of the people, powers are held in check, and history is no more a story written only by the “winners”.
Because that is what Julian Assange and WikiLeaks stand for, what their work has done, enabled, inspired, what we should be grateful for and fight to protect.
UK and everyone must resist !
NO US EXTRADITION FOR ASSANGE, EVER, FROM ANYWHERE
JULIAN ASSANGE MUST BE PROTECTED AND GET THE CARE HE NEEDS         
    
Much strength and continued courage to Julian Assange
Stay strong !
We are standing with you
freeAnoUSxtrad

“The most important thing” Free Ola Bini

oladrawing

On the same day Julian Assange was handed over by Ecuador and arrested by UK Police at the embassy, April 11th, the Police in Ecuador arrested Ola Bini, a Swedish free software developer and  privacy advocate who had been living there for the last years. His arrest and detention since have in many ways been unlawful. There are no solid grounds for Ola’s ongoing detention other than what looks like Orwellian Thoughtcrime (they found books !),  ignorance and misunderstanding around Ola Bini’s field of research, or guilt by association (Ola Bini visited Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London).

Activists, intellectuals, software developers, wrote a letter to Swedish PM expressing their concerns and asking Sweden to step up.

From his detention, Ola Bini wrote a letter, The Most Important Thing, where, quoting Aaron Swartz, he shares his thoughts on the most important thing he could devote his life to – and invites us to ask ourselves again : What is the most important thing you could do? Are you doing that? If not, why not?

Stay informed, spread the word, support  FREE OLA BINI <3

 

 

PROTECT ASSANGE !

JULIAN

Julian Assange was arrested today by UK police inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he had a been a political refugee since 2012.

He did not “walk out”. In fact, he was carried out by Police.

Ecuador terminated his asylum right in violation of international law.

Let’s fight for Julian Assange’s rights, his life, and with him and Wikileaks for the freedom of the press, and ultimately, for the rights of everyone to live in a hospitable world, where compassion, altruism, courage are key, knowledge circulates in the hands of the people, powers are held in check, and history is no more a story written only by the “winners”.

Because that is what Julian Assange and Wikileaks stand for, what their work has done/enabled/inspired, what we should be grateful for and fight to protect.

UK and everyone must resist !

NO US EXTRADITION FOR ASSANGE, a political refugee, journalist primed with dozens of awards, nominated for the Nobel prize every year since 2010.

https://defend.wikileaks.org/

PS to everyone who has until then showed reserve in supporting Julian Assange an Wikileaks :

Do not fall and do not let anyone around you fall anymore for the vicious lies and smears that have been going on for years now, looking to delegitimize Assange and WL, and to divert attention from the numerous engineered failures of Justice/ lack of due process in the multiple cases (or absence of thereof) he has been entangled in. Do not get confused: There is the discussion you might want to have about Assange and Wikileaks (the vision, the “motives”, the politics, the style of journalism etc.) and there is the ACTUAL POSSIBILITY of you and others everywhere around the globe even HAVING these conversations, that is, a world where we can be informed, think, have divergent views, write and publish etc. Also, for those of you who do feel concerned about the world but can’t quite get what that “white dude Assange is about”,  bear in mind that social justice fights are not mutually exclusive, that WL even has what could be understood as a meta approach to social justice, empowering many, and that for the causes and people which you do fight for and whom you do care about there is probably a way somehow somewhere WL helped or inspired (have a look here https://wikileaks.org/10years/)

FREE CHELSEA and DROP IT ALREADY

h7-manning

chelseaagain

USA  2019 : Chelsea Manning was jailed again after refusing to testify over her 2010 disclosures to a secret grand jury investigating Wikileaks. She is to remain in jail until she agrees to testify—or until the grand jury wraps up its work… How about they DROP IT already ?! USA 2019, where  a whistleblower / alleged source is being coerced to testify against journalists, who are being criminalized for speaking truth to power. Disgusting yes, and dangerous.

Chelsea has a strong spine but she will need support, we can contribute to her legal funds to help her resist this secret grand jury abomination. And may her courage, and her type of Contempt, be contagious.

THANK YOU CHELSEA

LOVE & SUPPORT

<3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3  <3

Fight For the Future call for immediate release

Chelsea Manning Twitter (run by friends and volunteers until Chelsea is released from jail)

About how and where to write to Chelsea in jail, see this thread

Background on + Support for, Wikileaks : https://defend.wikileaks.org/

Handholding analgesia

“Our findings indicate that hand-holding during pain administration increases brain-to-brain coupling in a network that mainly involves the central regions of the pain target and the right hemisphere of the pain observer. Moreover, brain-to-brain coupling in this network was found to correlate with analgesia magnitude and observer’s empathic accuracy. These findings indicate that brain-to-brain coupling may be involved in touch-related analgesia.”

cover-r4x3w1000-5a99364271cbe-synchrocerveaux

” Nos résultats indiquent que tenir la main pendant la douleur augmente le couplage cerveau-cerveau qui est lui-même corrélé à l’amplitude de l’analgésie et à l’empathie du partenaire, assurent les auteurs. Ces résultats apportent une contribution unique à notre compréhension des mécanismes physiologiques de l’analgésie liée au toucher.”

> Main dans la main, nos cerveaux se synchronisent, Elena Sender, Sciences et Avenir, 12/03/2018

001

Picture from Hacking with Care hands massage manual , The HANDSHAKE

Think twice : UN’s biometric identity management system

Biometric identity management systems raise many very important questions and some very scary ones as well.

Even more so when they are big multinational programs, like the UN Refugee Agency biometric identity management system, and collect and store biometric data of millions of the most vulnerable people on the Planet…  The sick, injured, persecuted people, refugees, asylum seekers, ethnic, religious or other minorities who ended up in a humanitarian camp because another group with more power somewhere simply wants them wiped out…  Question: Should the biometric data of individuals who are the target of a genocide even be collected in the first place ?? How is this data protected, how are these people protected, short and long term ? Not to mention the great asymmetry of power between the “helper” and the “helped”, and the questionable validity of informed consent (if it is brought up at all) in situations where it’s primarily about survival.

The following article gives an overview of these questions through the example of the Rohingya.

Tagged, tracked and in danger : How the Rohingya got caught in the UN’s risky biometric database. / Elise Thomas, Wired

Black Hearts Attacked

The fallout of police violence is killing black women like Erica Garner

By Christen A. Smith – The Conversation

“The sting of the premature death of 27-year-old Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner, is still fresh.

On Christmas Eve, Erica Garner suffered a massive heart attack which caused extensive brain damage. She died on Dec. 30. This latest loss emphasizes something we have known: Black women are dying from the trauma of police violence and this issue must be grappled with before more die.

When I heard the news of Erica Garner’s heart attack, a wave of familiar shock and pain ran through me. I immediately recognized the correlation between her heart attack and her father’s death because I had seen it before.

As an anthropologist who studies the impact of police violence on black communities in Brazil and the United States, I was familiar with many stories like Erica’s. My research examines the ways that police violence kills black women slowly through trauma, pain and loss.

Some may find this idea startling. Let me explain.

Trauma, pain and loss

In the wake of the deaths of black people at the hands of the state – from the police to the prison system – the living are often weighted with a sadness that is too heavy to bear, and in the weeks and months following the initial death of a loved one, they become sick and many die prematurely.

(…)

Après demain la médecine ? Entretien

“Pour le professeur Didier Sicard, ancien chef de service en médecine interne à l’hôpital Cochin et ancien président du Comité consultatif national d’éthique (CCNE), cette manière de voir les choses constitue un leurre pour au moins deux raisons. D’un côté, il n’existe guère aujourd’hui, contrairement à hier, de révolutions médicales d’ampleur, mais plutôt une tendance à la stagnation dans la découverte de nouveaux médicaments et d’avancées majeures dans le traitement des corps souffrants. De l’autre, l’économie et la technologie paraissent prendre le pas sur les considérations éthiques, politiques et sociales qui constituent pourtant le socle de la médecine « d’après-demain ».

Pour le professeur Sicard, la France est dans une situation paradoxale, puisqu’elle dispose de nombreux atouts pour être le laboratoire de la médecine de l’avenir, mais ses logiques et structures actuelles risquent fort de la laisser sur le bord de la route. Pour celui qui a présidé le comité d’experts des données de santé, le big data en matière médicale en est l’incarnation. La France est en effet, du fait de la centralisation de l’assurance maladie, le pays qui possède de loin le plus de données, mais aussi celui qui s’en sert le moins, en raison des réticences des médecins et des inquiétudes du politique : une réalité qui n’est pas sans lien avec le fait que la France est aussi l’un des pays qui ont accumulé le plus de scandales sanitaires sur la longueur, à l’instar du Mediator.

À partir du constat d’une relation médecin/malade transformée par la technologie au point d’en oublier, de plus en plus souvent, le savoir du corps, Didier Sicard réfléchit aux transformations liées à l’individualisation du soin, au vieillissement de la population, à la captation marchande d’une médecine dont on attend de plus en plus, et qu’on maîtrise de moins en moins.”

source: Mediapart, Les Mirages de la médecine moderne, entretien avec le professeur Sicard, dans le cadre d’une série de rencontres intitulée “Penser le monde d’après demain” à Avignon, été 2017

 

Woman On Waves in Mexico 21-23/04

womenonwaves

En colaboración con organizaciones locales y nacionales, el barco de Women on Waves (Mujeres sobre las olas) llegó a México. Hoy inició su campaña y ya navega en aguas internacionales donde atiende a mujeres con hasta nueve semanas de embarazo que desean realizarse un aborto.
Quienes ahora estén cursando un embarazo no deseado pueden solicitar apoyo al 755980 0548.

El viernes 21 de abril a las 10:00 horas habrá una conferencia de prensa en el hotel Sunscape Dorado Pacífico Ixtapa, ubicado en Paseo de Ixtapa, Ixtapa.
Para más información de prensa, comunicarse al 55 4042 8376 y 55 4551 0791 con Women on Waves o (52) 1 55 4010 6752 para hablar con las organizaciones nacionales y locales.

El barco de Women on Waves cuenta con todos los permisos requeridos en México y estará atendiendo a las mujeres hasta el próximo domingo 23 de abril. Los servicios que se brindan a bordo se rigen por los más altos estándares médicos internacionales y las recomendaciones de la OMS.

In collaboration with national and local Mexican organisations, the Women on Waves ship arrived in Mexico. The campaign started today and the boat has already sailed out with women to international waters where women can get free legal medical abortions till 9 weeks of pregnancy. Women with unwanted pregnancies in need of help can call 7559800548

On Friday April 24th at 10am there will be a press conference at the hotel Sunscape Dorado Pacifico Ixtapa, address Paseo de Ixtapa, Ixtapa. For more press information, please contact: (52) 55 40428376 and (52) 55 4551 0791 for Women on Waves or (52) 1 55 4010 6752 for the national and local organizations.

The ship has all required permits to sail out and will be receiving women until Sunday, April, 23rd. The services on board the ship are provided according to high European medical standards.

Info on the campaign + Sexuality and Birth Control Resources >> WOMEN ON WAVES / MUJERES SOBRE LAS OLAS

 

Chest Binding and Health

“Study highlights health problems related to chest binding”

“The practice of chest binding to create a more masculine appearance is well know within the queer community, but medical professionals and the general pubic are less informed – which leads to a lack of information about what is the best practice. Many people are forced to search online for information and guidance and YouTube videos have become on of the most common places for people seeking knowledge. Now a research team have published the findings of a large survey they conducted. Published in Culture, Health and Sexuality: an International Journal for Research, Intervention and Care, the study is based on anonymous interviews with 1800 people who had experiences in binding their chests.”

//

“Overwhelmingly people said chest binding had a positive effect on their mental health with decreases in suicidality, anxiety and dysphoria and increased self-esteem, confidence and ability to go out safely in public.

but

“97.2% of participants reported at least one negative outcome they attributed to binding. The most commonly reported outcomes were back pain (53.8%), overheating (53.5%), chest pain (48.8%), shortness of breath (46.6%), itching (44.9%), bad posture (40.3%) and shoulder pain (38.9%).”

and

“Sports bras, layering sports bras and neoprene or athletic compression wear were the binding methods least commonly associated with negative outcomes, and therefore may be the safest options for binding.”

Digital Colonialism and the hacking coyotes #rp10

“We need to have this conversation”: Renata Avila, Joana Varon, Nanjira Sambula and Alan Mills , discuss Digital Colonialism at Re:publicaTEN, weaving in poetic/historic reflections on the Coyote, hacker-trickster resisting assimilation and annihilation.  In many ways, the subject (sadly as old as the new “free” world) is very relevant to care – access to care, what care, productions of knowledge in care..-  in so far as bodies-minds, are (being made into) territories.

The history of colonization is a history of nature being seized, of exploitation and enslavement of her people, a history of social and medical experimentation on the conquered (typically considered “less human/evolved” than the conqueror : people of color, non christian, women, criminals..), a history of burning witches and shamans, of annihilation and replacement of systems of knowledge and practices… And, of absence of laws, as well as of laws drafted along to make it all look good and straight. Let’s picture this, as it goes on, in times of high connectivity,  hi tech heartless trade, authoritarian regimes equipped with mass surveillance, where markets and governments are so hungry for everyone’s data, and so eager to sell (in Renata Avila’s words) the “utopia that an app can solve serious inequalities” and the very “basic things that need fixing”.  Like for example, connected medical devices will make up for the destruction of community and lack of concern for villages (where there is no doctor) and poor remote people, or competing proprietary devices will empower the sick and disabled when they in fact increase embedded dependencies and vulnerabilities, or like massive medical data collection/analysis will improve the administration of medicine so there will be money saved for social security (and it’s insurance companies making millions and governments spending savings on national security). AS IF.  In a time “when companies mostly from the US have more users than some countries”, as Joana Varon notes, and “the colonized are not only the developing countries anymore”. What we have is an extension of the domain of colonization, ever more apt to penetrate and submit the bodies and minds, everywhere, anytime, all the time.

At one point, Renata Avila notes that paradoxically, some of the best coyotes she knows are disconnected. Can’t help but think very fondly and also, with worry, of the great hackers-coyotes healers out there in the wild. The witches, the shamans, the DIY-DIT doulas, the unlicensed acupuncturists, the herbalist whose shop they close because, you know, not in line with regulations…  How to protect and keep this diverse knowledge and patient care alive still through the years in spite of all the active aggression, passive/aggressive standardization, rampant consent ? What of them if/when they are captured ? In what web ?

hackingcoyotes

Twitter account for the talk : @hackingcoyotes + Digital Colonialism pad https://pad.riseup.net/p/colonialcyber

And now, for our spirits, a much loved coyote poem, by Peter Blue Cloud

Coyote, Coyote, Please Tell Me

–  What is a shaman?

A shaman I don’t know

anything about.

I’m a doctor, myself.

When I use medicine,

it’s between me,

my patient,

and the Creation.

*

Coyote, Coyote, please tell me – what is power?

It is said that power

is the ability to start

your chainsaw

with one pull.

*

Coyote, Coyote, please tell me – what is magic?

Magic is the first taste

of ripe strawberries, and

magic is a child dancing

in a summer’s rain.

*

Coyote, Coyote, please tell me – why is Creation?

Creation is because I

went to sleep last night

with a full stomach,

and when I woke up

this morning,

everything was here.

*

Coyote, Coyote, please tell me who you belong to?

According to the latest

survey, there are certain

persons who, in poetic

or scholarly guise,

have claimed me like

a conqueror’s prize.

Let me just say

once and for all,

just to be done:

Coyote, he belongs to none.

https://zocalopoets.com/2012/05/15/peter-blue-cloud-tales-and-poems-of-coyote/

 

A breath of fresh Justice for Assange !

To-The-Indicter-article-5-Feb-2016-Assange-UNWAD-AFP

“The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that Julian Assange is being arbitrarily and unlawfully detained by Sweden and the United Kingdom; and that he must be immediately released and compensated. More”

>> Justice for Assange

>> Freeing Julian Assange: The last chapter, by John Pilger (+ em Portugues : O preso politico que expoe o Imperio)

>> Julian Assange: What happens to your body when you are indoors for three years ? Kashmira Gander

The Wikileaks Files

wikileaksfiles

The Wikileaks Files, The World according to US Empire (Verso books) is out !! Julian Assange’s Introduction HERE. 

“The WikiLeaks Files presents expert analysis on the most important cables and outlines their historical importance. In a series of chapters dedicated to the various regions of the world, the book explores the machinations of the United States as it imposes its agenda on other nations: a new form of imperialism founded on varied tactics from torture to military action, to trade deals and “soft power,” in the perpetual pursuit of expanding influence. It illustrates the close relationship between government and big business in promoting US trade.”

Marriage : Thanks but no thanks ?

Michael Cobb shares an opinion on marriage in The Supreme Court’s Lonely Hearts Club (NYT, June 30)

“Marriage equality activists could have pursued a different agenda — challenging the need for sexual scrutiny by the state, and the constellation of benefits that belong to marriage — but they didn’t. Instead of dreaming up new forms of governance, they asked to be ruled by the ones that already exist.

And so old questions remain: Why can’t I put a good friend on my health care plan? Why can’t my neighbour and I file our taxes together so we could save some money, as my parents do? If I failed to make a will, why is it unlikely a dear friend would inherit my estate?

The answers to all these questions are the same: It’s because I’m not having sex with those people. (To make matters worse, that also means we probably didn’t have children together.) For the only thing that truly distinguishes romance and marriage from other loving intimacies like friendships, other familial relationships and close business partnerships is that sex is (or once was) part of the picture.

So yes, marriage equality erases an odious and invidious distinction among straight and us not-straight citizens for which I’m truly glad and which I celebrate. And it’ll make lots of people’s lives better. But it also leaves unexamined the reason sex seems to give you benefits and recognition — and why it orders the world and civilization.”

Wikileaks release: TPP Transparency Chapter Healthcare Annex + Expert analysis

Capture d’écran 2015-06-10 à 21.24.30

 

“Today, Wednesday 10 June 2015, WikiLeaks publishes the Healthcare Annex to the secret draft “Transparency” Chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), along with each country’s negotiating position. The Healthcare Annex seeks to regulate state schemes for medicines and medical devices. It forces healthcare authorities to give big pharmaceutical companies more information about national decisions on public access to medicine, and grants corporations greater powers to challenge decisions they perceive as harmful to their interests.

Expert policy analysis, published by WikiLeaks today, shows that the Annex appears to be designed to cripple New Zealand’s strong public healthcare programme and to inhibit the adoption of similar programmes in developing countries. The Annex will also tie the hands of the US Congress in its ability to pursue reforms of the Medicare programme.

>> WIKILEAKS FULL PRESS RELEASE with expert analysis

See also

>> Public Citizen Statement and Public Citizen Analysis

 

Encryption and anonymity technologies essential to protection of human rights

TOR

>> UN Special Rapporteur : Anonymity is gateway to free expression 

“We at the Tor Project have long said that Tor is a technology for free expression. Today, that view was endorsed by UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye in a new report on encryption and anonymity. The report, a close look at international law and its relation to technology, concludes that encryption and anonymity technologies are essential to the protection of human rights to privacy and freedom of expression and opinion”

All the President’s Psychologists

AMABush

All the president’s psychologists

Description:

A new report by a group of dissident health professionals and human rights activists argues that the American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the administration of President George W. Bush to bolster a legal and ethical justification for the torture of prisoners swept up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terror.

>> Full document HERE

Read

>> American Psychological Association bolstered CIA torture programme, report says – James Risen, NY Times, April 30 2015

>> First, Do harm, Justine Sharrock, Motherjones, July 14 2009

Business on the back of our pains: Personal health data harvested online with no respect for privacy

“For now, however, millions of people are exposing their personal health profiles to internet advertisers and data brokers, right at the moment they’re making the most confidential inquiries imaginable.”

“Health data is some of the most private data you have. That a data reveals a lot about you. There’s a reason that we have laws like HIPAA—unfortunately those don’t apply here,” Quintin said. HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, and it forces the government and doctors to keep patient medical records secure and confidential. It has no jurisdiction over search engine companies or data brokers who sap data “volunteered” by users.”

Read : Looking up symptoms online ? These companies are tracking you

Malades et expulsés

FAIRE_PART_05

PERSONNES ETRANGERES MALADES PLACEES EN RETENTION ET/OU EXPULSEES de février 2013 à mars 2015.

“Les associations de l’Observatoire du Droit à la Santé des Étrangers ont le regret de vous faire part de l’expulsion imminente vers le Kosovo, par la préfecture du Doubs, de Monsieur B.

Il est enfermé au centre de rétention du Mesnil-Amelot depuis 10 jours avec sa femme. Au Kosovo, il ne pourra pas bénéficier de la prise en charge médicale que nécessite son état de santé. Ses jours seront en danger. Le ministère de la santé est alerté : il doit stopper cette expulsion.

Monsieur B n’est pas un cas isolé, depuis juin 2012 nos associations ont été informées de nombreuses situations similaires dont certaines ont conduit à l’expulsion. La mobilisation associative et citoyenne aura permis d’éviter que certaines de ces personnes ne soient renvoyées vers une mort certaine.”

La Cimade / Actualités

 

COURAGE for Matt DeHart

“Matt DeHart is a 30-year-old former US Air National Guard drone team member and alleged WikiLeaks courier, who worked with the hacktivist group Anonymous. After becoming the subject of a national security investigation — and allegations relating to a teenage pornography case which he vehemently denies — he fled from the United States to Canada with his family to seek political asylum and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. In what represents a moral victory for the DeHart family, the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board judge found that the teenage pornography case against Matt lacked credibility. However, because the IRB considered that the United States still had a functioning democracy, they denied his claim, and on 1 March, 2015 Matt DeHart was handed over into US federal custody.”

>> Information and support for Matt DeHart with COURAGE foundation, who named him their third beneficiary yesterday

Health-related searches privacy sell-outs

“A new study found that 91% of health-related web pages reveal potentially sensitive information to third parties like data brokers and online advertisers.(…)

To conduct the study, University of Pennsylvania PhD student Timothy Libert analyzed the top 50 search results for 1,986 common diseases, some 80,000 web pages. He found that on 91% of the pages, third parties like social networks, advertisers, and data brokers could access information about who was viewing the page, like the user’s IP address. On 70% of the pages, those third parties could see information about specific “conditions, treatments and diseases” viewed.

Altogether, 78% of the health-related web pages sent information about you to Google, 31% sent information to Facebook, and 5% sent information to Experian, a credit bureau and data broker”

>> Your embarrassing online searches about health problems aren’t private 

Sobre o papel histórico de Wikileaks

Julian Assange em entrevista com ZH 

“Nossas publicações de 2010 se tornaram a base para numerosas ações judiciais por vítimas de crimes e abusos de guerra pelos Estados Unidos, do Tribunal Europeu de Direitos Humanos aos tribunais britânicos, ao Tribunal Internacional Criminal para a ex-Iugoslávia e ao Tribunal Penal Internacional. Só isso é “mudança” – mudança muito real para pessoas reais, que eram incapazes de levar seus casos à justiça e fazer sua defesa, e agora o são. E há o grande número de grupos de direitos humanos e organizações da sociedade civil para os quais nossas publicações fizeram uma grande diferença. Grupos como Iraq Body Count (Contagem de Corpos no Iraque), que pôde usar nossos War Logs para calcular o verdadeiro número de mortos na Guerra do Iraque, ou Public Interest Lawyers, que foi capaz de usar os documentos como fonte para seus clientes em casos de prisão e tortura. Redes de ativistas de direitos autorais como La Quadrature du Net, que usou nossos despachos para investigar a utilização de lobbies corporativos secretos para introduzir restrições ao comércio e impor leis favoráveis aos Estados Unidos. Jornalistas investigativos como o Bureau de Jornalismo Investigativo, que usou nossos materiais para reconstruir a narrativa de sérios abusos contra os direitos humanos.”

Qual foi o impacto histórico do WikiLeaks até agora? 
Nossas publicações também mudaram a forma como o jornalismo é feito. Antes do WikiLeaks, não havia precedente real para trabalho em larga escala com bases de dados. Desde que começamos a fazer isso, outros nos copiaram. Não havia precedente de amplas colaborações jornalísticas de interesse público entre jornais comerciais concorrentes. Demos início a isso, e outros estão fazendo o mesmo agora. Antes do WikiLeaks, ninguém dava importância a informações de segurança para jornalistas, ninguém pensava em usar criptografia para facilitar grandes vazamentos de fontes públicas. Agora essa é a única opção disponível. Mostramos o caminho para se fazer isso, e agora, como consequência também das revelações de Edward Snowden, que se apoiam nos avanços que possibilitamos, jornalistas estão levando isso a sério. Isso é um mar de mudança na cultura do jornalismo. Colocando um grande corpo de correspondência diplomática em domínio público, o Despachogate e suas sequelas elevaram o nível de alfabetização política para nossa geração. Nos últimos quatro anos, jornais de todo o mundo têm usado diariamente nossos materiais para apoiar suas apurações e noticiar suas consequências, em vez de correr para os analistas oficialistas. Essa é uma grande mudança em como nossa civilização entende suas circunstâncias históricas, e pode-se esperar que produza mudanças em cascata no futuro. Há também a imensurável, mas previsível consequência de nossas publicações, que é o fato de, depois das publicações, funcionários do governo americano saberem agora que cada palavra que escrevem pode um dia se tornar pública. Esse é um forte desestímulo contra os tipos de abusos sobre os quais podemos ler em seus despachos. Eles agora sabem que o segredo não vai proteger quem age de forma indevida. Essa é uma grande mudança, porque funciona como uma checagem da conduta dos burocratas do poder americano. E essas são apenas algumas das grandes mudanças. Mas há também aquelas mais particulares. Muitas pessoas argumentaram que nosso trabalho produziu mudanças muito concretas no mundo. Por exemplo, a Anistia Internacional e a BBC disseram que nosso trabalho contribuiu para o início da Primavera Árabe, porque nossas publicações foram uma causa das manifestações no final de dezembro de 2010 na Tunísia, quando a revolução começou. Os detalhes completos disso são dados no meu livro, mas muitos na revolução tunisiana, e mesmo um ex-ministro no governo de Ben Ali, disseram que nossas publicações “quebraram a espinha do sistema de Ben Ali”. Esses acontecimentos contribuíram para grandes mudanças históricas, nas quais outras forças intervieram, e desde então houve mudanças em cascata em todo o mundo. Nem toda mudança foi boa, mas uma parte foi boa. Isso é mudança?”

Chelsea Manning allowed hormones in MTF transition

“Chelsea Manning, the US soldier convicted of leaking classified information to Wikileaks, is to receive hormone therapy to help complete the transition to life as a woman.

USA Today said that in what represented an unprecedented move by the US armed forces, the Pentagon had approved Manning for treatment after a review.

“After carefully considering the recommendation that (hormone treatment) is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding [hormone treatment] to Inmate Manning’s treatment plan,” Col Erica Nelson, the commandant of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, wrote in a memo on 5 February.”

Continue reading The Independent article

UK National Health Service whistleblowers ignored and bullied

“NHS staff who blow the whistle on substandard and dangerous practices are being ignored, bullied or even intimidated in a “climate of fear”, according to an independent review.

A significant proportion of health workers are afraid to blow the whistle about poor patient care and safety failures in the NHS, the government commissioned inquiry, which documented “shocking” accounts of the treatment of whistbleblowers found.”

Continue reading Guardian article

Kiss for immunity

“As many as 80 million bacteria are transferred during a 10 second kiss, according to research published in the open access journal Microbiome. The study also found that partners who kiss each other at least nine times a day share similar communities of oral bacteria.

The ecosystem of more than 100 trillion microorganisms that live in our bodies – the microbiome – is essential for the digestion of food, synthesizing nutrients, and preventing disease. It is shaped by genetics, diet, and age, but also the individuals with whom we interact. With the mouth playing host to more than 700 varieties of bacteria, the oral microbiota also appear to be influenced by those closest to us.”

>> read 80 million bacteria sealed with a kiss

Julian Assange 1527 days detention without charges

Screenshot from 2015-02-11 22:05:21

At a recent press conference in Geneva, lawyer Melinda Taylor – sitting together with Baltasar Garzon, head of Assange’s defense team, journalists Sarah Harrison and Kristinn Hrafnsson of Wikileaks – explained how Julian Assange is, in view of the law, effectively detained inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and not a free man willingly imposing himself a detention to avoid questioning on alleged sex offences in Sweden. The threats, very real, are with the US… Sweden and the UK play significant roles in immobilizing Assange… What choice has a man surrounded by a moat with crocodiles, but to stay longer in the castle where he was granted asylum until this right is no longer obstructed and he can fully enjoy it ?

Screenshot from 2015-02-08 12:15:29

Julian Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador two and a half years ago, not to escape Swedish justice but as protection against political persecution and threats to his life emanating from the US. The US are building an “espionage case” against him and the organization, and public figures there have openly called for Assange’s assassination. Unjust, cruel treatments would be most likely, as we can imagine from Manning’s case and from US practices.

The investigation into him and Wikileaks was confirmed again recently with the revelations that Google has had to hand over to the FBI personal emails and metadata of 3 staffers (see Wikileaks editorial).

Julian Assange, Wikileaks staff and Wikileaks supporters, “the Wikileaks human network”, have indeed long been the targets of an arsenal of strategies essentially devised by the US and its allies to prevent them, and the likes of them now and to come, from publishing troves of truths shedding light on obscure wrongdoings worldwide. Snowden documents have proved this for a fact.

In the same time of the probe into Wikileaks, the alleged sex offences case brought against Assange in Sweden has had him deprived of liberties for over four years, despite still being at a preliminary investigation stage, with Assange not charged with any crime, certainly not rape which he is not even accused of (except by calumniators), nothing, and not trying to escape Swedish justice, contrary to what bad medias have been spinning.

Obviously, Assange’s past 967 dark days stuck inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, and still counting, are the second wave consequence of the multi parties legal struggle  evolved into a deadlock, where Sweden plays the lead stalling role and the UK the watchdogs, and where Assange’s right to asylum granted by Ecuador is obstructed.

Indeed, Sweden is still not giving guarantees that Assange would not be extradited to the US should he travel to Sweden for the investigation, and the prosecution is still unwilling to opt for alternative modes of questioning, like coming to the Embassy themselves. Severely criticized by human rights organizations and the UN, Sweden has recently, by word of a representative, stated that it sees no issues in indefinite detention without charges, confirming that it has, in the words of Assange, “imported Guantanamo’s most shameful legal practice “(see Wikileaks editorial).

Meanwhile the UK, who in the past, has threatened Ecuador to raid their embassy to grab Assange, still refuses him safe-passage to his host country. The Met Police has spent over 10 million tax payers pounds, admittedly sucking their resources, to have their “crocodiles” in place at all times guarding the building in London, ready to arrest and extradite Assange should he set foot outside. The siege has been described by John Pilger as a farce, no less.

An affront to human rights, their seekers and their defenders, and a disgrace to British legendary sense of humour – to say the least – the BBC produced and now airs, a TV “comedy” show called Asylum, in which “a whistleblower and an internet pirate find themselves trapped together under the threat of extradition in the London embassy of a fictional Latin American country.” Seriously ? It should be noted that a writer of this show has called for Assange assassination by the Met Police on Twitter. PUKE, to say the least.

As Assange spends more time deprived from liberties and sunshine, cut from his family, we worry about his health.

Right now despite the tremendous pressures, Assange is well alive and so is Wikileaks, operational, as proven by their continuing publications and brave actions, notably orchestrating NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s rescue from Hong Kong, in which journalist Sarah Harrison certainly didn’t lack Courage.

We should not be discouraged either and show support by our means as Wikileaks, Assange and his team stand among those at the avant-posts of the freedom of the press, which they firmly and innovatively defend. Their fate, the outcome of their struggles, is determinant for the fate of investigative journalism, freedom of expression, freedom of thought, knowledge of the world we live in, the fate of people.

heart1_hourglass1-01

 

 

 

Compassion in Care – Call for Edna’s law and public inquiry into whistleblowing

“Edna was a defenceless elderly lady who died after terrible abuse and neglect in a BUPA care home even though the “BUPA Seven” had notified management.  This campaign is dedicated to Edna’s memory and to all those who have suffered or died because a whistle-blower was ignored or too afraid to speak out.”

Compassion in Care is a charity funded by caregiver-whistleblower Eileen Chubb

Go to Info and Petition page

 

Barrett Brown sentenced to 63 months in prison

“Good news! The U.S. government decided today that because I did such a good job investigating the cyber-industrial complex, they’re now going to send me to investigate the prison-industrial complex. For the next 35 months, I’ll be provided with free food, clothes, and housing as I seek to expose wrongdoing by Bureau of Prisons officials and staff and otherwise report on news and culture in the world’s greatest prison system. I want to thank the Department of Justice for having put so much time and energy into advocating on my behalf; rather than holding a grudge against me for the two years of work I put into in bringing attention to a DOJ-linked campaign to harass and discredit journalists like Glenn Greenwald, the agency instead labored tirelessly to ensure that I received this very prestigious assignment. Wish me luck!”

Barrett Brown, after receiving his sentence

and here was his allocution / sentencing statement :

“Good afternoon, Your Honor.

The allocution I give today is going to be a bit different from the sort that usually concludes a sentencing hearing, because this is an unusual case touching upon unusual issues. It is also a very public case, not only in the sense that it has been followed closely by the public, but also in the sense that it has implications for the public, and even in the sense that the public has played a major role, because, of course, the great majority of the funds for my legal defense was donated by the public. And so now I have three duties that I must carry out. I must express my regret, but I must also express my gratitude. And I also have to take this opportunity to ensure that the public understands what has been at stake in this case, and why it has proceeded in the way that it has. Because, of course, the public didn’t simply pay for my defense through its donations, they also paid for my prosecution through its tax dollars. And the public has a right to know what it is paying for. And Your Honor has a need to know what he is ruling on.

Continue reading HERE

And, latest Barrett Brown’s review of Arts and Letters and Jail: If anyone needs me, I’ll be in Prison

AI diagnosis…

“Like many parents of a bright mind, IBM would like Watson to pursue a medical career, so it should come as no surprise that one of the apps under development is a medical-diagnosis tool. Most of the previous attempts to make a diagnostic AI have been pathetic failures, but Watson really works. When, in plain English, I give it the symptoms of a disease I once contracted in India, it gives me a list of hunches, ranked from most to least probable. The most likely cause, it declares, is Giardia—the correct answer. This expertise isn’t yet available to patients directly; IBM provides access to Watson’s intelligence to partners, helping them develop user-friendly interfaces for subscribing doctors and hospitals. “I believe something like Watson will soon be the world’s best diagnostician—whether machine or human,” says Alan Greene, chief medical officer of Scanadu, a startup that is building a diagnostic device inspired by the Star Trek medical tricorder and powered by a cloud AI. “At the rate AI technology is improving, a kid born today will rarely need to see a doctor to get a diagnosis by the time they are an adult.”

in The Three Breakthroughs that have finally unleashed AI on the world,Kevin Kelly, WIRED

Cheap parallel computation,

Big Data,

Better algorythms

Google…

 

Ebola Hackathons..

“EBOLA has a new enemy: an army of hackers. Alongside health workers and fast-tracked vaccines, software developers are now part of the campaign, putting together novel tools which could save lives.

Earlier this month, teams of physicians and graduate students from various disciplines spent a weekend huddled round laptops and drawing boards in the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. The aim of the Ebola Crisis Hackathon was to develop software and systems to help West African communities devastated by the worst-ever outbreak of the disease.”

Continue reading > Hackathon develops tech tools to fight Ebola Epidemic, Chris Baraniuk in the New Scientist, 19 November 2014

also

> 6 ways technology is helping to fight Ebola, on TechChange, which ends with these wise words :

“Don’t start an SMS campaign or launch a drone just because you can. It’s not about what you want to do. It’s not about technology. It’s about what’s best for the people we are there to help.”

 

EU trade secrets directive threat to health, environment, free speech, worker mobility

Multi-sectoral NGO coalition statement against a new EU directive on Trade Secrets, December 14.

On the subject of Health:

> Companies in the health, environment and food safety fields could refuse compliance with transparency policies even when the public interest is at stake.

Health :

Pharmaceutical companies argue that all aspects of clinical development should be considered a trade secret. Access to biomedical research data by regulatory authorities, researchers, doctors and patients – particularly data on drug efficacy and adverse drug reactions – is critical, however, for protecting patient safety and conducting further research and independent analyses. This information also prevents scarce public resources from being spent on therapies that are no better than existing treatments, do not work, or do more harm than good. Moreover, disclosure of pharmaceutical research is needed to avoid unethical repetition of clinical trials on people. The proposed directive should not obstruct recent EU developments to increase sharing and transparency of this data

Mains propres sur la santé, Michèle Rivasi @ Mediapart


Michèle Rivasi : opération mains propres sur la… by Mediapart

“Michèle Rivasi travaille sur la santé publique depuis trente ans. C’est l’une des premières, en 1986, à avoir alerté sur les retombées de la catastrophe de Tchernobyl, au moment où les autorités assuraient, contre toute évidence, qu’aucun nuage radioactif ne menaçait la France. Elle créera dans la foulée la Criirad, la commission de recherche et d’information indépendante sur la radioactivité.

Députée de la Drôme en 1997, députée européenne depuis 2009, elle veut aujourd’hui lancer une opération « mani pulite » à la française, sur le modèle de ce qui s’est fait en Italie dans les années 1990. Elle soutient que dix milliards d’euros d’économies pourraient être réalisées chaque année, dans le domaine de la santé, sans réduire la qualité des soins.

Elle constate « des différences incroyables » entre le prix de certains médicaments en France et notamment en Italie. Elle cite un anti-leucémique des laboratoires Novartis vendu 500 euros en Italie et 2 300 euros en France. Elle note que le prix des génériques français « dépasse de 30 % la moyenne européenne ». Elle accuse les laboratoires de créer en permanence de faux nouveaux médicaments pour éviter que leurs molécules ne soient vendues sous forme de générique.

Elle souligne enfin « l’opacité » du CEPS, le comité économique de protection de la santé, qui délivre les autorisations de mise sur le marché et fixe le prix des médicaments.

Pour elle, toute la chaîne du médicament serait gangrenée par les conflits d’intérêts. Elle cite Nora Berra, Claude Evin, Edmond Hervé, Henri Nallet, Michèle Barzach, Bernard Kouchner, Philippe Douste-Blazy, Élisabeth Hubert, Roselyne Bachelot, tous anciens ministres ou secrétaires d’État à la santé, qui ont collaboré, de près ou de loin, avec les laboratoires…

Michèle Rivasi évoque aussi Michel Barnier, Jacques Godfrain, Claudie Haigneré, et parle de parlementaires « corrompus ou gratifiés », de clubs parlementaires, de hauts fonctionnaires, d’« associations sous influence »

Sa proposition : imposer la transparence, et en finir avec les allers et retours entre décideurs politiques ou professionnels de la médecine, et laboratoires pharmaceutiques « dont l’investissement en communication et en lobbying est plus élevé que dans la recherche ».

Dans la dernière partie de l’entretien, la députée européenne parle de la Grèce et de l’Espagne, en considérant que la victoire de Syriza ou de Podemos « peut changer l’orientation de l’Europe », une Europe à laquelle elle croit mais dont elle dénonce le fonctionnement : « Trois millions de Grecs n’ont plus accès la Sécurité sociale, 25 % de gens au chômage, dont 60 % des jeunes… C’est ça leur système ? »

 

Charlie Hebdo : Non à l’instrumentalisation sécuritaire

LA QUADRATURE DU NET Paris, le 9 janvier 2015

Sans même attendre la fin d’une quelconque enquête sur l’ignoble attentat ayant visé Charlie Hebdo le 7 janvier, le gouvernement persévère dans son obstination à accroître l’arsenal antiterroriste, en notifiant à Bruxelles du décret d’application permettant le blocage de sites « terroristes » ou pédopornographiques et en annonçant de nouvelles mesures antiterroristes. La Quadrature du Net appelle les citoyens à refuser cette surenchère absurde et à défendre coûte que coûte la liberté d’expression et d’information.

L’attentat commis contre l’équipe de Charlie Hebdo mercredi matin 7 janvier montre de façon terrible à quel point la liberté d’expression est une valeur à défendre comme un des fondements de notre démocratie. Les victimes de l’attentat, journalistes, policiers ou visiteurs, ont donné leur vie pour ce qui, plus qu’un symbole, est en démocratie la première des libertés publiques.

..

LIRE LA SUITE ICI

UK health sector’s “duty to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”

Check UK government Prevent duty guidance: a consultation (which will run until Friday January 30th 2015). Direct implications for the healthcare sector.
Introduction: 
“The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, which is currently before Parliament, seeks to place a duty on specified authorities (identified in full in Schedule 3 to the Bill, and set out in the guidance) to ‘have due regard, in the exercise of its functions, to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism’. Preventing people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism also requires challenge to extremist ideas where they are used to legitimise terrorism and are shared by terrorist groups. In carrying out this duty, the specified authorities must have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State. A draft of that guidance is attached here, for consultation.
Purpose :
“The purpose of this consultation is to seek views on the draft guidance from: local authorities, schools, further and higher education institutions, the NHS, the police, prison and young offender institution governors, and providers of probation services. These bodies are listed in Schedule 3 and will be subject to the duty, when the provisions come into force. We would also be interested in hearing from other bodies working in these fields who feel that they should also be subject to the duty.
We have included specific consultation questions throughout the document which we invite responses on. But more generally, we would like to hear views on the practicality of the guidance, what other measures could proportionately be taken to comply with the duty, any examples of existing good practice, and any opportunities and barriers to implementation. “
The health sector (p.30-32)
119. Healthcare professionals will meet and treat people who may be vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. Being drawn into terrorism includes not just violent extremism but also non-violent extremism, which can create an atmosphere conducive to terrorism and can popularise views which terrorists exploit. The key challenge for the healthcare sector is to ensure that, where there are signs that someone has been or is being drawn into terrorism, the healthcare worker is trained to recognise those signs correctly and is aware of and can locate available support, including the Channel programme where necessary. Preventing someone from being drawn into terrorism is substantially comparable to safeguarding in other areas, including child abuse or domestic violence.
120.There are already established arrangements in place, which we would expect to be
built on in response to the statutory duty.
Health specified authorities
121.The health specified authorities in Schedule 3 to the Bill are as follows:
•NHS Trusts
•NHS Foundation Trusts
Question for consultation
19. Are there other institutions, not listed here, which ought to be covered by the duty?
Please explain why.
122. NHS England has incorporated Prevent into its safeguarding arrangements, so that
Prevent awareness and other relevant training is delivered to all staff who provide services to NHS patients. These arrangements have been effective and should continue.
123. The Chief Nursing Officer in NHS England has responsibility for all safeguarding, and a safeguarding lead, working to the Director of Nursing, is responsible for the overview and management of embedding the Prevent programme into safeguarding procedures across the NHS.
124. Each regional team in the NHS has a Head of Patient Experience who leads on
safeguarding in their region. They are responsible for delivery of the Prevent
strategy within their region and the health regional Prevent co-ordinators (RPCs).
125. These RPCs are expected to have regular contact with Prevent leads in NHS

organisations to offer advice and guidance.
126. In fulfilling the duty, we would expect health bodies to demonstrate effective action in the following areas.

TOR Solidarity against online harassment

“One of our colleagues has been the target of a sustained campaign of harassment for the past several months. We have decided to publish this statement to publicly declare our support for her, for every member of our organization, and for every member of our community who experiences this harassment. She is not alone and her experience has catalyzed us to action. This statement is a start.

The Tor Project works to create ways to bypass censorship and ensure anonymity on the Internet. Our software is used by journalists, human rights defenders, members of law enforcement, diplomatic officials, and many others. We do high-profile work, and over the past years, many of us have been the targets of online harassment. The current incidents come at a time when suspicion, slander, and threats are endemic to the online world. They create an environment where the malicious feel safe and the misguided feel justified in striking out online with a thousand blows. Under such attacks, many people have suffered — especially women who speak up online. Women who work on Tor are targeted, degraded, minimized and endure serious, frightening threats.

This is the status quo for a large part of the internet. We will not accept it.”

 Full statement here 

Every breath you take, they’ll be tracking you

“The Propeller sensor keeps track of your medication use for you, with a record of the time and place you have used your inhaler. The sensor is a small device that attaches to the top of your existing inhaler and stays out of your way when you need to use it.”

“Dr. Lawrence Madoff, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Boston, says this is a new trend in public health. “The patient or the public is actually participating in their surveillance directly. You’re moving back closer to an event actually happening – when does someone get sick? When do they show symptoms? When do they first report something going on?”

Read MEDICAL INHALERS TO TRACK WHERE YOU ARE WHEN YOU PUFF

by Alison Bruzek for Popular Science

 

Saúde, da dependencia à autonomia

O caderno central do ultimo Jornal Mapa foca-se na area da saúde, com titulo Saúde, da dependencia à autonomia.

“Qualquer pessoa que tenha acesso a informação correcta, partilhada de forma clara, pode providenciar cuidados de saúde básicos na sua comunidade”

“A ideia de partilhar conhecimento ajuda a dispersar o poder e pô-lo onde deve estar, na nossas mãos !”

Maria Freixo, no artigo Haja Saúde !

 

L’assureur emboîte le pas du big data

Attention, en santé aussi l’enfer Big Brother est pavé de bonnes intentions.

En Juin dernier Axa lançait “Pulsez votre santé avec AXA” un jeu concours promettant des trackers santé à qui souscrirait bon pied bon oeil une assurance, assortis de bons cadeaux à qui rapporterait le bon nombre de pas…

Ou comment se voir perdre quelques bons degrés de libertés à l’horizon…

Capture d’écran 2014-11-12 à 15.33.34

Pour info 

“Parmi ceux qui ont le plus d’intérêts à acheter les données personnelles stockées et vendues par les géants de l’informatique grand public figurent en première ligne les assurances santé, qui disposent grâce aux technologies de médecine personnalisée d’une base d’informations sans précédent sur les comportements individuels des clients qu’ils doivent assurer, et qu’elles ont donc intérêt à influencer par une forme de chantage à l’assurance.

Ceux qui refuseront de voir leur activité surveillée pour vérifier qu’ils ne font rien de dommageable pour leur santé paieront plus cher leur assurance, voire n’y accéderont plus. Ou de façon plus pernicieuse, ceux qui accepteront de porter des objets connectés qui permettent à l’assurance de vérifier leur comportement auront le droit à des réductions tarifaires, mais devront alors s’interdire le moindre écart de conduite pour continuer à bénéficier des remboursements prévus au contrat. C’est ainsi la liberté individuelle qui risque de se dissoudre dans la mode du “quantified-self”.

Guillaume Champeau, “Ça y est, Axa conditionne un avantage santé à un objet connecté”

Oui…

“Et les libertés individuelles ? Ne pas s’en occuper au motif que l’individu est volontaire pour offrir les données de son corps à son assureur, via son smartphone ? Le respect de la vie privée est-il compatible avec une nouvelle « médecine » (personnalisée et numérisée) véhiculée par les géants du marché, Axa, Apple, Nike et leurs concurrents ? Où sont, ici, les puissances publiques, les responsables politiques ?”

Jean-Yves Nau, “Offrez votre corps à Axa, Apple, Nike etc.”