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This weekly blog is to explore the news around the larger issues around
Digital Health, data security, data privacy, AI / ML. technology, social media
and related matters.
I will also try to highlight ADHA
Propaganda when I come upon it.
Just so we keep count, the latest Notes from the ADHA Board were dated
6 December, 2018 and we have seen none since! Its pretty sad!
Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or
value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is
worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said
/ published that I have come upon.
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https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/spare-us-the-google-eyed-crackpots-the-case-for-a-viable-news-business-20210205-p57026.html
Spare us the Google-eyed crackpots: the case for a
viable news business
Peter Hartcher
Political and international editor
February 5, 2021 — 7.28pm
The
Jewish bankers control the secret space lasers, don’t you know? That’s how they
started the bushfires in California. The fires were lit from space to clear the
route for a proposed high-speed rail line.
The
US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene spelt it out on Facebook, so it’s not a
secret any longer. She’s clever to figure it out, no doubt about it: “Too many
coincidences to ignore,” as she said, putting the former Governor of California,
Jerry Brown, at the centre of the conspiracy. Greene is a Republican, Brown a
Democrat, naturally.
And,
at the end, Congresswoman Greene adds the standard disclaimer: “But what do I
know? I just like to read a lot.” As Donald Trump said when caught peddling
blatant lies years ago: “Hey, I only know what’s on the internet.”
The
healthy response to such silliness is laughter. As filmmaker Avishai Weinberger
said: “Mom says it’s my turn on the Jewish Space Laser.” Or The
Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus: “This Jewish space laser thing makes
no sense to me. Because, as every Jewish mother knows, you could put an eye out
with that.” A third commenter says he would have been more inclined to go to
Hebrew school if only he’d known they had space lasers.
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https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cracks-in-media-code-opposition-as-microsoft-outflanks-google-and-facebook-20210205-p56zzy.html
Cracks in media code opposition as Microsoft outflanks
Google and Facebook
By Lisa Visentin
February 5, 2021 — 7.30pm
On
a visit to Silicon Valley four years ago, Scott Morrison stopped by Google’s
global headquarters and offered the trillion-dollar company’s executives some
unsolicited advice.
Federal
treasurer at the time, Morrison suggested the search giant should be proactive
in addressing growing calls for regulation of its operations.
“You
created this world and we would prefer you to fix the issues, otherwise
government will be forced to step in and you won’t like it,” he said, according
to those with knowledge of the conversation. The Prime Minister has regularly
recounted this experience to colleagues and associates in the years since, but
these days he includes a kicker: “They didn’t listen.”
The
Morrison government is on the cusp of legislating its news media bargaining
code - world-first laws that will force Google and Facebook to pay for news
content, with the option for other tech titans to be similarly compelled in the
future.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/google-won-t-quit-australia-frydenberg-20210205-p56zxy
Google won’t quit Australia: Frydenberg
Miranda Ward and John
Kehoe
Feb 5, 2021 –
4.59pm
Treasurer
Josh Frydenberg has signalled that Google has backed away from its threat to
quit Australia if the government forces the online search giant to pay media
publishers for displaying news.
Google
launched its News Showcase product on Friday following conversations
between Google and the government in which it is understood the Treasurer urged
the search giant to launch the product and get deals with publishers done.
There
was an understanding that the government may then consider amendments to the
proposed mandatory bargaining code which the the Silicon Valley-based company
has requested, industry sources said.
Following
a video meeting with Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, Google’s
parent company, Mr Frydenberg said on Friday talks between the parties had been
constructive.
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https://www.innovationaus.com/its-not-about-the-news-its-techno-politics/
It’s not about the news: It’s techno politics
Marie
Johnson
Contributor
5 February 2021
I am
forced to live in two parallel worlds. One world is served by
an expensive and unreliable NBN where on the weekend in Canberra the speed was
18Mbps down / 23Mbps up. The other world is AI, where for free, I have access
to Google’s AI services and compete globally and largely unhindered during the
pandemic.
So
I don’t believe that the ACCC digital platforms inquiry and the Senate Committee hearings into
the proposed News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code is actually
about the news.
The
debacle unfolding is in reality a dangerous episode of a government and
bureaucracy blind-sided by legacy industries and unprepared for the digital era
that is upon us.
In
years to come, students of history will discover the treasure trove of
submissions to the Senate Committee and wonder who actually read them. They
will wonder why the submissions of Sir Tim Berners-Lee (“in my capacity as the
inventor of the World Wide Web”) and Vint Cerf (“I am one of the original
co-designers of the Internet”) appear to have been ignored.
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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/google-to-pay-publishers-with-showcase/news-story/7629c63acbad8b89965e91e944fa2eb2
Google Showcase beside the point, says ACCC chief Rod
Sims
David Swan
·
February 5, 2021
The competition watchdog says Google’s newly-launched News
Showcase ignores the biggest problem in its relationship with Australia’s
publishers.
Google launched its News Showcase product in Australia on Friday,
announcing partnerships with independent publications including The Canberra
Times, Crikey and The New Daily as the tech giant looks to sign deals outside
of the looming mandatory media bargaining code.
In a blog post Google said that News Showcase would be available
to Australian users from Friday, and would initially appear across its Google
News product, with plans to sign deals with more publishers and to eventually
bring the product to Search.
The launch marks the first time the tech giant will pay publishers
for their news content in Australia, and comes just a day after Scott Morrison
met Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai. Google appears to be backing down
from its threats to leave the country if it has to pay for news content, with Mr Morrison declaring after the meeting the
tech giant is in a “more positive space” about its Australian future.
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https://www.itnews.com.au/news/senate-committee-red-flags-govt-data-sharing-bill-560668
Senate committee red-flags govt data sharing bill
By Justin Hendry on
Feb 5, 2021 6:55AM
Over privacy concerns.
The
federal government’s proposed data sharing laws have stumbled at the first
hurdle despite two years of development, with a senate committee raising a
series of privacy concerns with the Data Availability and Transparency Bill.
The
bill, which was introduced
to parliament in December, aims to make it easier for the public
sector to share data within government and across the private sector for the
purposes of delivering government services and support research and development.
It
intends to unlock data with a scheme that gives agencies an optional pathway to
share data with accredited entities, overriding some 500 data secrecy and
confidentiality provisions in 175 pieces of existing legislation.
Personal
information and sensitive data collected by agencies, except sensitive data
handled under other legislation (think My Health Record, COVIDSafe app,
national security), is potentially sharable under the scheme.
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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5117ea11-15f0-4f34-bfb5-a341247bb829
Upcoming changes to the regulation of software-based
medical devices in Australia
DLA Piper
There
was an unprecedented uptake of digital technology in 2020 in the healthcare
sector, and 2021 is expected to be no different. In creating these technologies
for the healthcare sector, developers should ensure that all applicable
regulatory requirements are complied with.
In
Australia, software may be regulated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
as a medical device if it falls within the definition of “medical
device” as set out in section 41BD of the Therapeutic
Goods Act 1989 (Cth). Further, from 25 February 2021, changes to
the Therapeutic
Goods (Medical Devices) Regulations 2002 (Cth) will come into
effect which seek to clarify some existing requirements around the regulation
of software-based medical devices, and introduce new requirements. We provide
an update about these changes below.
Software-Based
Medical Devices
The
definition of “medical
device” includes software that is intended to be supplied to be
used by a person for one or more of the following purposes:
- the diagnosis, prevention,
monitoring, prediction, prognosis, treatment or alleviation of disease;
- the diagnosis, monitoring,
treatment, alleviation of or compensation for an injury or disability;
- the investigation, replacement or modification
of the anatomy or of a physiological or pathological process or state;
- the control or support of
conception.
Based
on a strict reading of this definition, a large number of software-based
products may be captured and regulated as medical devices.
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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=4e60f71d-cd99-47ce-8099-3b9c0cc370aa
TGA announces major changes to regulation of
software-based medical devices
Corrs
Chambers Westgarth
The
Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has announced major changes to how
software-based medical devices will be regulated under the Therapeutic
Goods Act 1989 (Cth) (Therapeutic Goods Act).
There
are three types of software-based medical devices affected by the changes:
- Devices referred to as ‘programmed
or programmable medical devices’.
- Software that is a medical device.
- Clinical decision support software (CDSS).
The
changes will commence on 25 February 2021 and include:
- the exclusion and exemption of
certain software-based medical devices from regulation under the medical
device regime under the Therapeutic Goods Act;
- the introduction of new
classification rules for software-based medical devices (these will impact
both existing entries on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) and new entries for
software-based medical devices); and
- the amendment of existing essential
principles, and the introduction of new essential principles, for
software-based medical devices.
In
addition to changing how software-based medical devices will be regulated going
forward, the changes will have an immediate impact on software-based medical
devices already
entered on the ARTG and may require sponsors and manufacturers
to take immediate steps. The TGA has also issued guidance about the
impending changes.
In
this article, we provide a brief overview of how software-based medical devices
are regulated in Australia, a summary of the key changes, and the suggested
next steps for sponsors and manufacturers.
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https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/is-the-web-s-a-weapon-of-democracy-s-destruction-20210204-p56zi2
Is the web a weapon of democracy’s destruction?
Regulating
the internet sounds like China-style censorship. But the Capitol riots showed
how rules-free connectivity can be anathema to a free society.
Stephen Roach
Contributor
Feb 4, 2021 –
12.54pm
Plenty has
been said, and rightfully so, about the violent
insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6. Politicians are grappling with
issues of legal and moral accountability. But the horrific events also touch on
a critical contradiction of modern societies: the internet’s role as an
instrument of democracy’s destruction.
It was not
supposed to be this way. The internet’s open architecture has long been
extolled by cyber-libertarian futurists as a powerful new democratising force.
Information is free and available instantaneously – and anyone can now vote
with a mere click.
Donald
Trump’s permanently suspended Twitter account: there are great misgivings about
entrusting corporate leaders with the fundamental task of protecting
democracy.
The rapid
expansion of the public square is offered as exhibit A. Internet penetration
went from 1 per cent to 87 per cent of the US population between 1990 and 2018,
far outstripping the surge in the world as a whole from zero to 51 per cent
over the same period. The United States, the world’s oldest democracy, led the
charge in embracing new technologies of empowerment.
The problem,
of course, lies in internet governance – namely, the absence of rules. Even as
we extol the virtues of the digital world, to say nothing of the acceleration
of digitisation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the dark side has become
impossible to ignore.
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https://www.smh.com.au/technology/breaking-up-with-google-is-hard-to-do-20210203-p56z1h.html
Breaking up with Google is hard to do
By Tim
Biggs
February 4, 2021 — 11.45am
Just
how tied to Google and its services are we? How big an impact would there be on
our everyday life if it disappeared? Australians may soon have to find out.
The
web giant has threatened to pull
its flagship product — Google Search — from Australia as a last
resort if a decision on the proposed News Media Bargaining Code doesn’t go its
way.
From
phones and PCs to speakers and bedside alarm clocks, Google’s smarts and
services are embedded in a huge range of products, not to mention digital wares
like email clients and browsers.
To
get a sense for what it might be like in a hypothetical worst-case scenario of
Google withdrawing everything, I spent a few days on total Google detox trying
out alternative services and solutions.
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https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/prime-minister-scott-morrison-in-talks-with-google-boss-sundar-pichai-20210204-p56zfw.html
Prime Minister Scott Morrison in talks with Google boss
Sundar Pichai
By Lisa Visentin
February 4, 2021 — 11.31am
Prime
Minister Scott Morrison has held a meeting with global Google chief Sundar
Pichai following the tech giant’s threat to shut down search in Australia if
proposed media compensation laws come into effect.
Mr
Morrison was joined in the online meeting on Thursday morning by Treasurer Josh
Frydenberg, who is leading the government’s push to force Google and Facebook
to pay news publishers for using their content on their platforms.
The
meeting comes after rival Microsoft declared its support for the proposed laws
on Wednesday and pledged to invest in its search engine Bing to fill the void
in the event Google exited the market.
Microsoft
president Brad Smith said he and global chief executive, Satya Nadella, had met
with Mr Morrison last week to inform him the
company “fully supported” the news media bargaining code.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/how-i-dumped-google-before-it-dumped-me-20210203-p56z19
How I dumped Google before it dumped me
It turns out that moving on from Google is much, much easier than
you might expect.
John Davidson Columnist
Feb 3, 2021 –
3.17pm
The
thing I’ll miss about Google is the font set.
My
Google search results page used Arial fonts, and the DuckDuckGo search engine I’ve
been using in place of Google these past 12 days – ever since Google said it
would shut
down its Australian search engine if it didn’t get to dictate the
terms of Australia’s proposed news media bargaining code – uses a font set
called Proxima Nova.
I
definitely prefer Arial. Proxima Nova, delightful as it may be, just looks
wrong on a search page.
DuckDuckGo,
a privacy-oriented search engine, promises to never track its users’ online
activity.
But
here’s what has surprised me about dumping Google before it dumped me: other
than the font – the most trivial of details in the scheme of things – I’ve not
missed Google search one bit.
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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/microsoft-says-its-willing-to-accept-new-media-bargaining-code-unlike-google/news-story/49780457d874aeb157d6e3ff94ca63fd
Microsoft willing to accept new media bargaining code,
unlike Google, Facebook
Ticky Fullerton
·
February 3, 2021
Microsoft says it would sign up to the federal government’s
proposed news media bargaining code, in the clearest break from its rivals
Google and Facebook to date.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella spoke to Scott Morrison
and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher last week and said he “fully
supports” the proposed code, the company said.
“The code reasonably attempts to address the bargaining power
imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news businesses,” Microsoft
president Brad Smith said.
“While Microsoft is not subject to the legislation currently
pending, we’d be willing to live by these rules if the government designates
us.”
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https://www.smh.com.au/technology/microsoft-pledges-to-fill-hole-if-google-follows-through-with-threats-to-exit-australia-20210203-p56z3n.html
Microsoft ‘fully supports’ government’s digital media
code
By Zoe Samios and John McDuling
February 3, 2021 — 12.30pm
US
software giant Microsoft has publicly pledged to fill the void created by
Google if it leaves the Australian market in a major boost for the Morrison
government’s plans to introduce sweeping new rules to force tech giants to pay
media companies.
Microsoft’s
president Brad Smith said in a statement the company “fully supports” the
government’s News Media Bargaining Code and will invest in its Bing search
engine to allow small businesses wanting to transfer their advertising to the
platform to do so simply and with no transfer costs.
“The
code reasonably attempts to address the bargaining power imbalance between
digital platforms and Australian news businesses.,” Microsoft President Brad
Smith said.
“It
also recognises the important role search plays, not only to consumers but to
the thousands of Australian small businesses that rely on search and
advertising technology to fund and support their organisations. While Microsoft
is not subject to the legislation currently pending, we’d be willing to live by
these rules if the government designates us.”
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https://www.afr.com/technology/at-best-australians-are-lukewarm-on-bing-20210201-p56yge
At best, Australians are lukewarm on Bing
Natasha Gillezeau Reporter
Feb 1, 2021 –
6.08pm
Australian
users are tepid on using Bing for search but say they can adjust, while
advertisers would want substantial improvements to the search engine’s back end
before considering it a solid alternative to Google.
The
Microsoft-owned search engine’s relevance renaissance follows Google’s
announcement that it would pull its search engine
from Australia rather than accept the news media bargaining code in its current
form.
Google
has 94 per cent of Australia’s search engine market. But should it withdraw,
Bing’s paltry 4 per cent could start climbing.
A
spokeswoman for Microsoft said the tech company believed the scenario was too
hypothetical to give details on how it would seek to capitalise on it.
“We
recognise the importance of a vibrant media sector and public interest
journalism in a democracy and we recognise the challenges the media sector has
faced over many years through changing business models and consumer
preferences,” the spokeswoman said.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/businesses-plan-for-life-after-google-20210125-p56wmc
Businesses plan for life after Google
Natasha Gillezeau Reporter
Feb 2, 2021 –
12.00am
Australian
small businesses are scrambling to work out how to reshape their online
strategies if Google follows through on its threat to close down its search
engine locally, saying they will call on the spirit of 2020 and find a way to
carry on in the face of big changes.
Small
businesses that rely heavily on Google search and advertising to target
customers online have been held up as a group that will suffer most if the tech
and media giant chooses to close down search locally, rather than sign up to
the proposed news media bargaining code, which it argues is “unworkable”.
This
move is aimed at reducing Google’s future liability for payments under a
legally enforceable revenue-sharing agreement with Australian media companies.
However, it has raised concerns that small and medium business owners will
struggle to reach Australians online, without Google’s targeted search
advertising.
Iman
Davamoni, the founder of Purely Polished, an online platform that connects
people with make-up and hair services (“like Uber for beauty”,) said initially
news of Google search’s possible withdrawal gave her serious pause.
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https://www.digitalhealth.gov.au/newsroom/events-and-webinars/using-electronic-prescriptions-for-prescribers-dispensers-and-their-staff-in-qld
Using electronic prescriptions: for prescribers,
dispensers and their staff in QLD
Event details
When Wednesday, 17 February 2021 6:30pm - 7:30pm (AEDT)
Where Online
Hosted by Australian Digital Health Agency
Register
here
Contact us
General enquiries
Phone: 1300 901 001
8am - 5pm (AEST/AEDT) Monday - Friday
Email: help@digitalhealth.gov.au
More
information
COVID-19
has accelerated the use of digital health, including electronic prescriptions,
which offers patients convenient access to their medicines. Electronic
prescriptions are an option for many types of medicines, including schedule 8
medicines (e.g. drugs of addiction). The Australian Digital Health Agency would
like to take this opportunity to discuss key features of electronic
prescribing, its uptake across the country and address some frequently asked
questions, specifically relating to generating and dispensing electronic
prescriptions for schedule 8 medicines.
We
will have an expert panel to address your questions, and please submit any
queries when registering for this session.
This
webinar is open to all healthcare providers and their staff (e.g. practice
managers, nurses, pharmacy staff etc.)
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https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/shrill-threats-google-risks-losing-media-fight-20210131-p56y6e.html
Shrill threats: Google risks losing media fight
By Greg Hywood
February 1, 2021 — 12.00am
Back
in the late 1990s as the editor of The Australian Financial Review I took a trip to
Silicon Valley to see what the fuss was all about.
My
first visit was to three Indian guys in a small shopfront who showed how the
internet could be used to search classified ads. It was starkly apparent the
‘rivers of gold’ – the monopoly stream of jobs, homes and car ads that made my
sister publications The Sydney Morning Herald and The
Age so profitable – were going to one day dry up.
Later
I visited a fledgling Google, then housed in a nondescript glass building in
Palo Alto.
At
the time there were plenty of search engines all competing with intent. Yahoo
was the best known but also Lycos, Excite, Looksmart, Alta Vista. Google’s
claim to superiority was an algorithm that could cross reference relevance
between sites.
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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/apple-ceo-tim-cooks-privacy-speech-is-cold-comfort-for-facebook/news-story/81451c562b252e6a1a8c54d961f77000
Apple CEO Tim Cook’s privacy speech is cold comfort for
Facebook
Chris Griffith
·
7:15AM January 29, 2021
CEO Tim Cook has locked-in Apple’s determination to take on
Facebook’s ad tracking in a passionate speech that warns we risk losing the
freedom to be human.
From around the Australian autumn, Apple iPhone users will have to
explicitly give developers permission to track their activities on mobile
devices and garner information about them for advertisers.
Tracking users has been the lifeline for Facebook whose entire
business model depends on the current opt-out model, where the world’s phone
users are automatically tracked unless they bother to opt out of being tracked,
and relatively few do.
It’s little wonder that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is reeling at
the prospect of Facebook missing out knowing a lot about Apple users’
activities. With the change, Facebook’s business model is thrown into jeopardy
if it cannot track users with the accuracy it needs for targeted advertising.
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https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/apple-to-roll-out-privacy-measures-despite-facebook-objections/news-story/f3c882fd00fe722917348f47f4affb09
Apple to roll out privacy measures despite Facebook
objections
·
By Tim Higgins
·
Dow Jones
·
4:23PM January 28, 2021
Apple Inc. plans to roll out its extensive new privacy-protection
options for users over the next several months, moving ahead with plans that
have ratcheted up tensions between the company and social-media giant Facebook
Inc.
On the same day Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told
investors Apple poses a growing threat to its business, the iPhone maker
reiterated its intent to give users the option to limit how apps track their
digital footprints.
Apple users early this spring will see the new feature, which will
allow ad tracking only if consumers opt in once they receive a prompt on an
iPhone or iPad. (A beta version will be coming sooner for test users.) The
software update to its mobile operating system would make it so that Facebook
or other companies would no longer be able to collect a person’s advertising
identifier without permission.
Chief Executive Tim Cook is slated to speak Thursday on the topic of
data privacy at the Computers, Privacy and Data Protection conference.
-----
https://www.hospitalhealth.com.au/content/facility-admin/news/unchecked-misinformation-risks-vaccine-efforts-918357877
Unchecked misinformation risks vaccine efforts
Tuesday, 26
January, 2021
A
newly formed coalition of health and technology experts is calling on the
Australian Parliament to force Big Tech companies to reveal the true extent of
COVID-19 misinformation, warning that unchecked misinformation risks
Australia’s COVID-19 vaccination response.
Led
by Reset Australia
— a local affiliate of the global initiative working to counter digital threats
to democracy and society — the coalition includes the Immunisation
Coalition, the
Immunisation Foundation of Australia, Coronavax and the Doherty Institute.
The group calls on politicians to introduce a Big Tech ‘Live List’ that details
the most popular COVID-related material being shared online.
“Rampant
misinformation on social media is hampering Australia’s COVID-19 efforts and
may deter widespread take up of the future vaccine,” Reset Australia Executive
Director Chris Cooper said.
“Social
media has supercharged conspiracy theories and misinformation, pushing some
people into echo chambers where false information is all they see.”
-----
https://www.smh.com.au/technology/taking-on-the-rising-cyber-threat-20210128-p56xlr.html
Taking on the rising cyber threat
This is sponsored content for FM Global
By
Christopher Niesche
February 1, 2021 — 12.00am
Australian
businesses better understand the risk of cyber than they did a few years ago
and place a higher priority on a cyber security program, but they still need to
have a detailed crisis management plan in place because attacks are inevitable,
says Pankaj Thareja, a cyber consultant at insurer FM Global.
“Two
or three years ago, a lot of businesses were complacent,” Thareja says. “Now,
most businesses we speak with are aware it’s a real risk. They understand that
the risk of cyber is real and dependency on technology can’t be avoided, and
hence everybody is under the cyber threat.“
The
COVID-19 pandemic has increased the cyber risk faced by many businesses, with
more staff working remotely from home, having less standardised devices,
systems and Wi-Fi networks to accomplish daily business activities, creating
cyber resilience challenges.
The
drive by businesses to increase efficiency by digitising more of their
operations and increasing their use of technology has also increased cyber
risk, by increasing what cyber security experts call the attack surfaces.
-----
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/facebook-and-apple-s-war-of-words-nears-boiling-point-20210201-p56ycz.html
Facebook and Apple’s war of words nears boiling point
By James
Titcomb
February 1, 2021 — 11.32am
What
would happen if, tomorrow, Facebook decided to remove its apps from Apple’s
download store?
Overnight,
iPhones would become much less useful, deprived of Instagram and WhatsApp as
well as the big blue social network itself. A substantial (albeit minority)
proportion of iPhone users might switch to Samsung phones, since they would
still have the apps.
A
host of other popular iPhone apps that use Facebook’s login or advertising
systems would also be left scrambling.
The
above scenario is unlikely, and would almost certainly cause much more damage
to Facebook than Apple. But it is not hard to think that the idea has probably
flashed across Mark Zuckerberg’s mind, if just for a second.
Apple
and Facebook are not traditional rivals. One makes electronics, which it sells
at a premium to those who can afford it. The other runs a global social
network, which is free at the point of use and funded by advertising. For the
last decade and more, their successes have in fact been intertwined. Facebook
pre-dates the smartphone era, but now makes over 90 per cent of its advertising
revenue from smartphones. Instagram and WhatsApp, which it acquired and turned
into giants, were born on the iPhone.
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https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2021/2/can-video-gp-consultations-become-the-norm/
Can video GP consultations become the norm?
Authored by
Andrew Baird
Issue 2 / 1 February 2021
IS
it possible that the video consultation may replace the in-person consultation
as the default consultation in Australian general practice?
There
are no data on the proportion of GP consultations in Australia that are
appropriate for video. The final Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health
(BEACH) data
(2015–2016) are consistent with video being appropriate for more than 50% of GP
consultations. The Registrars’
Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) project does not capture
appropriateness for video consultation or requirement for in-person
consultation.
Professor
Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, has
stated that “around
half of GP consultations are likely to be delivered remotely on a permanent
basis following the pandemic”. In the United Kingdom in July 2020, 77%
of GP consultations were done by phone; 4% were done by video; 11%
were in-person, 6% were done by SMS or email, and 3% were home visits and care
home visits.
Video
consultations potentially provide benefits for patients, GPs, general practice,
population health, and communities, although the evidence is yet to accumulate.
-----
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/microsoft-tells-pm-it-could-fill-google-void-20210131-p56y5y
Microsoft tells PM it could fill Google void
Phillip Coorey Political
editor
Jan 31, 2021
– 1.22pm
Microsoft
has discussed with Scott Morrison expanding its Bing search engine into the
Australian market should Google withdraw in protest over plans to force tech
giants to share revenue with media outlets for republishing their content.
The
Prime Minister held talks last week with Microsoft chief executive and
president Satya Nadella, as well as the company’s Australian hierarchy,
following threats by Google to withdraw its search engine from Australia if the
laws pass Parliament.
At
the same time, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg held an online meeting with
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher, but Mr
Frydenberg said the government was not for turning.
“Mark
Zuckerberg didn’t convince me to back down if that’s what you’re asking,” Mr
Frydenberg told the ABC’s Insiders program.
-----
https://www.afr.com/companies/healthcare-and-fitness/psychiatrists-learn-how-to-empathise-virtually-20210125-p56wm6
Psychiatrists learn how to empathise, virtually
From mastering multiple technologies to reading body language
via video, the pandemic has forced doctors to change how they help their
patients.
Tanveer Ahmed Contributor
Jan 27, 2021
– 12.00am
For
many of us, the coronavirus pandemic drove parts of our lives into the digital
realm: from streaming entertainment, to buying groceries to Zoom meetings.
As
a psychiatrist, my work also changed. Almost a quarter of my consultations are
now conducted digitally, three times higher than before the pandemic.
Using
a laptop or a smartphone, I have become familiar with Facetime, Skype, Zoom and
the bespoke applications linked to some organisations I work for. I assess my
clients in jail using Web Ex teams and they tell me about their crimes while
sitting in cramped rooms staring at webcams in their green prison uniforms.
The
statistics suggest that both doctors and patients are happy with the new
options, with a 20 per cent increase in uptake on average across all Australian
states. Unsurprisingly, Victoria had higher rates in the middle of 2020 during
the state’s strict lockdown.
-----
Comments more
than welcome!
David.
