Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Your not the only one. Apparently even people in the medical profession didnt know his was happening. The government has been so secretive about this that almost all the people my family n friends know and theirs didnt know and some still dont.Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I chose to opt out after seeing that Telstra and other 3rd party IT businesses already had access.
Imagine my surprise when I tried to opt out and the screen said "You can't opt out as you already have created a record".
No, I hadn't. Apparently anyone living in North Queensland have already had their records created, so I had to go through MyGov to delete it.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I opted out. Rang up and got an indian woman, so i asked if i could be transfered to an australia call centre. She told me she was in SA adeliade. Didnt want my info going over seas. It was quick n easy and only needed my medicare number no license.
The medical info on the web site is being hosted overseas. No or different legislation over there? What will happen?
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
I opted out (just minutes ago)
Did it over the phone so I didnt have to put my driv. Lic. Number over the net.
Once you got through the irritating computer voice and bad elevator music, a very pleasant australian voice took two minutes, sent a confirmation email, and I was opted out.
Even if you have a record and cancel it, they still keep it for 30 years, that worried me
It appears the opt out option will be extended to end of January 2019 (was 15th November 2018).
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I honestly dont understand why people are so worried about this. I think this is fantastic! Have a look at this article for instance. I think there is a lot of misinformation out there.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
Its the possibility of the records getting hacked and private info being leaked to everyone which is driving this fear, in my opinion.
I work in IT and everyone keeps asking me my thoughts as well.
I guess this is why online data is such a two-edged sword. Its great from an accessibility perspective because it means other medical practitioners can get your details at very short notice so useful in emergencies, other states, etc. The flipside of course being that if their databases ever did get hacked then thats a LOT of privacy breaches (and class actions to follow I would suspect).
However if we think about this logically, the risk is no different to other everyday life aspects. We all love PayPass due to its easy 'tap-and-go' functionality, but if your card gets stolen that gives easy access to your money (in smaller quantities anyway). Someone could fish through your rubbish and grab your private documents and use you in identity theft. And in the IT world, everyone uses emails but viruses and spam and malware still can infect machines; Facebook and other social media profiles can be used for catfishing, etc.
Heck, you could argue a downside to ANYthing easily enough. It all comes down to personal preference.
For those who want to opt out, great. For those who want to keep their records on line, great too. Such is the power of democracy and choice. I certainly won't be judging people's opinions on this matter
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Yeah, but the same organisation just yesterday was insisting that everything was fine while their entire opt-out website had crashed.
For my part, I have 2 big concerns here: first, what happened to Andie Fox. As long as there's a government in charge who will use highly dubious overextensions of what are supposed to be highly restricted powers, to release sensitive private information in response to criticism, I don't want them having any more of my information than is absolutely necessary. I mean, this is the same mob who couldn't even run the freaking Census. No way am I trusting them with my complete medical history.
Secondly, the data isn't just available to medical services. It's also available to private/corporate interests - it was one of the original design features from the British model they copied it from, which was shut down after insurance companies and pharmaceutical outfits started abusing it. It's not just about 'being hacked', it's about the broad array of organisations who can access it legitimately, for purposes that are not necessarily in my best interests.
Having all of your medical advice readily available is a good idea, as long as it's treated carefully, responsibly, with adequate safeguards and oversight and only for the patient's medical benefit. But that's not what this is. This is more or less like giving Facebook all your medical data, only if Mark Zuckerberg had already unapologetically doxxed people who p***ed him off.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote