Oracle's Ellison says U.S. should centralize data
Reuters, 07.19.02, 9:01 PM ET
 
By Judith Crosson

DENVER, July 19 (Reuters) - Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle Corp. on Friday renewed his campaign for a [red]government-initiated database of U.S. medical and criminal records[/red], the kind of sweeping and controversial project the No. 2 software vendor has offered to undertake before.

"There should be one system," Ellison told some 3,000 attendees at Colorado Gov. Bill Owens' third annual technology conference in Denver.

A unified system would be both cheaper and safer, eliminating many of the current problems in health care and criminal justice, he said.

For example, patients risk adverse drug reactions because one pharmacy that fills a prescription has no way of knowing another pharmacy might have provided a second drug that could make the patient sick if both were taken together.

"Government should take a lead in this so we can stop [BS!]killing people[/BS!]," Ellison said.

Centralized database systems would also allow emergency medical personnel to better treat someone in an accident far from home and help police departments better track criminals, he said.

"You're saying 'What a threat to privacy,'" he said to an audience that seemed sometimes skeptical that such information could be responsibly entrusted to a single system.

PRIVACY BARTERED FOR CREDIT

But Ellison, who founded Oracle in 1977 after a deal with the [red]Central Intelligence Agency[/red] that helped launch the firm, said security would be enhanced, not diminished, by centralizing control of sensitive data.

"You barter 100 percent of your financial privacy in exchange for credit," he said, referring to credit card companies' use of central databases to assess credit standing.

(no, yours truly prefers cash)

Besides, he said, a central database with controls would be more secure than leaving records at a physician's office where employees have access to them.

Oracle has maintained close ties to federal, state and local governments and such contracts make up an estimated 25 percent of its revenue.

In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the company joined a partnership to focus on airport security. At one point, Ellison also offered to supply the government software to create a [red]national ID system[/red] to thwart terrorists.

[vomit]

The records, especially medical should be left alone. The example of cross referencing for drug interactions is a perfect. If you are being treated for an embarrassing ailment such as VD or even toenail fungus, you may not want the people in your neighborhood pharmacy, whom you see frequently, to be aware of it. Just imagine, you stop there on the way home from work for some milk and you see the people behind the pharmaceutical counter chuckling as you walk by. Knowing the interactions between drugs is the responsibility of your doctor and ultimately you. If you want to fill a prescription at a pharmacy on the opposite side of town to protect your privacy it should be your right.

Also,
[b]"You barter 100 percent of your financial privacy in exchange for credit," he said, referring to credit card companies' use of central databases to assess credit standing.[/b]

And every Elmo (read tele-marketer) with something to sell has access to your information! All we would need is a new rash of calls like "We see here by your records that you have a hemorrhoid problem, and were wondering if you would be interested in our bulk purchasing arrangement of preparation H?... For only three easy payments of...

In case anyone doesn't already know, Oracle isn't just a "software company", they are a DATABASE software company, and I think the largest of all the database companies out there (though I could be wrong about the size). It is no wonder then, that they are proposing the need for a massive database at the national level, thier stock would skyrocket, which isn't the norm for a SW company these days.

Not saying it is a good idea; I think it is NOT, but that's why...

It is shit like this that made me hate computers for so long.

Ironically now I am going to school to become a programmer. I promised myself to never take a job that involves work on a program like this article suggests.

Oracle is definately the biggest database software company. My teachers refer to oracle as "the 500 pound gorrila."

Invoking Godwin's Law myself....

The Nazi regime used such information to track political opponents, enforce racial policies, and, ultimately, implement mass murder. As early as 1934, various government bureaus began to compile card catalogs identifying political and racial enemies of the regime, such as Freemasons, Jews, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), and "genetically diseased" persons. The 1939 census became the basis for a national register of Jews. That year, German census forms for the first time included explicitly racial categories. Jews were identified not only by religious affiliation, but by race as well. Within three years, the completed national register of Jews and some Jewish Mischlinge ("mixed breeds") was to become one of the sources for Nazi deportation lists. Most of those deported perished in the Holocaust.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Hollerith machines were the best data processing devices available. The Nazi regime employed thousands of people in 1933 to 1939 to record national census data onto Hollerith punch cards. The SS used the Hollerith machines during the war to monitor the large numbers of prisoners shipped in and out of concentration camps. The machines were manufactured by DEHOMAG-Deutsche Hollerith Maschinen Gesellschaft or German Hollerith Machine Company, a subsidiary of IBM since 1922.

It's funny a Jew like Mr. Ellison fails to see this connection to his project.

I think Larry Ellison should have his scrotum tattooed with a dull, rusty needle by a street bum suffering from delirium tremens.  

But that's just my opinion.

1. oracle keeps pushing their Nazi 'citizen tracking' ideas for the billions of dollars they would rake in at the back end of the deal - at the expense of everyone's privacy - what little privacy there is left.
2. ellison is a dickhead liberal that is not going to let this idea go - too much potential income and power.
3. check the connection of points 1 and 2. - ellison making tons of money, and imagine the built-in power of a company controlling all citizen information.
4. the world knows too much about each other already - definately more than I want to know about anyone or want anyone to know about me.  Screw oracle.

gotta go out on a limb here...

WE SHOULD NEVER PERMIT THE SORT OF DATA COLLECTION AND MONITORING AS PROPOSED BY LARRY ELLISON.  This would clearly threaten privacy, freedom to (as opposed to freedom from), property rights, the whole nine yards.

When the social security number was established in the 1930s there was much debate about whether it should be used as a national ID number; the debate centered around the possibility of inappropriate use of the SS# to track citizens' movements and transactions - EXACTLY the sort of use that Ellison proposes.


The conclusion drawn from the 1930s debate was that the SS# should NOT be used as a national ID.  Despite this conclusion, over time the SS# has ended up as a de facto national ID - when was the last time you did anything of consequence without providing your SS#?  My bet is a long time.

I agree with the prior poster - the only reason Ellison spouts this sort of bull is pure, naked greed.  Nothing more.
I have written my elected officials on this one - HAVE YOU?