Microsoft's Health-y Patent Appetite 85
theodp writes "This week's USPTO patent application disclosures included a trifecta of scary health-related 'inventions' from Microsoft. For starters, Microsoft envisions seeing Kids' Personal Health Records Fed Into Video Games, where they can be used to 'regulate and/or prescribe an individual's behavior while playing electronic games.' Next up is Centralized Healthcare Data Management, which describes how employees' health habits can be 'monitored, tracked or otherwise discovered' so employers can 'incentivize a user for an act or penalize for an omission to act.' Finally, there's Wearing Health on Your Sleeve, which describes a sort of high-tech Scarlet Letter designed to tip off 'doctors, potential dates, etc.' about your unhealthy behavior by converting information — 'number of visits to the gym, workout activities, frequency of workouts, heart rate readings, blood pressure statistics, food consumption, vitamin intake, etc.' — into a visual form so that others can see the data 'on mechanisms such as a mood ring, watch, badge, on a website etc.'"
Do You Remember the new MS interface? (Score:2, Interesting)
Sounds a lot like my new patent application (Score:2, Interesting)
Most Comically Big Brother Patents...ever (Score:3, Interesting)
Could Microsoft have filed for patents that were any more big brother-ish. I mean having people disclose their health to their potential dates or having employees have to disclose ever aspect of their health to their employer.
I guess Microsoft hasn't designed a system in which 'a camera hangs around your neck and records every aspect of your life' (like the truman show)...oh wait they already did that. http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/cambridge/projects/sensecam/ [microsoft.com]
Re: STILL CREEPY (Score:3, Interesting)
To me, the idea that people are thinking of this kind of thing is what this story is about. Not that they might get a patent for it.
Does Microsoft know something we don't?
Maybe Microsoft actually got to find out what was in the bill before it passed, rather than Pelosi's insistence that regular citizens would find out what was in it after it passed.
Regardless of precisely when MS knew what was in the healthcare act, they probably sat some creative software people down with a bullet-point list of items from the act and brainstormed some possible niche software applications based on things actually in the bill.
What's creepy isn't the software apps that MS is trying to patent, it's that they have to have had some reason to think that at least some of this stuff may actually make them some coin from the federal government by being used in some twisted government healthcare initiatives based on what's in the government healthcare plan.
' -- into a visual form so that others can see the data 'on mechanisms such as a mood ring, watch, badge, on a website etc.'"
How about having those Jews start wearing yellow Stars of David too, while we're at it?
I'd post further, but being the July 4th weekend, I've got to get started deep-frying those Twinkies and balls of butter rolled in cinnamon and powdered sugar for the neighborhood cookout. The kids love 'em! The first batch should be ready right after the deepfried-lard-eating contest.
Strat
Re:Privacy, anyone? (Score:4, Interesting)