Judge dismisses health data privacy suit against Google and University of Chicago

Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer of the US District Court of the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a class action suit against Google and the University of Chicago Medical Center, alleging that they had failed to deidentify data that was used for machine learning research and predictive analytics projects. In her decision, Judge Pallmeyer wrote that Google can potentially identify who the patients in the electronic health records (EHRs) that are shared by the university by combining it with its expertise in data mining and access to geolocation information of its users. However, she stated that the amended complaint did not allege that Google has in fact used the data to reidentify EHRs.