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HMRC Cracking Down on Online Marketplace Sellers
Are you an online marketplace seller who has received a letter from HMRC? You’re not alone. HMRC is increasing its scrutiny of income generated through online platforms (Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Argos, and ASOS) and has recently launched a campaign targeting individuals they suspect have been operating in the hidden economy by not declaring their earnings. We break down what’s happening and explain…
#Capital Gains Tax#compliance check#Data Reporting#Declare Income#Digital Platforms#First Tier Tax Tribunal#HMRC#HMRC Investigations#HMRC Letter#HMRC Policy#HMRC Tax Assessment#HMRC Tax Disputes#interest#late tax payments#Nudge Letter#online content creators#Online Income#Online Marketplace Sellers#payment reference number#Penalties#personal items#PRN#Providing Services Online#renting property online#respond to HMRC#selling for profit#Selling Goods Online#Tax#Tax Evasion#tax obligations
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Unlocking Business Potential Through Data & Analytics: A Comprehensive Guide
In today's data-driven world, leveraging Data Analysis is essential for businesses to remain competitive. With the rise of Big Data, organizations have unprecedented access to vast amounts of information, but effectively harnessing this data requires advanced techniques and tools. This is where Data Science comes into play, utilizing sophisticated methods to extract actionable insights.
One of the core components of Business Intelligence (BI) is the ability to make informed decisions based on data. Machine Learning algorithms, a subset of AI, can predict future trends and behaviours by analysing historical data. Combining Data Visualization with these predictions allows businesses to present complex data in a more understandable and actionable format.
Predictive Analytics is particularly valuable for forecasting future outcomes based on current data trends. It involves analyzing patterns and using statistical techniques to predict future events, which is crucial for strategic planning and decision-making. Data Mining and Data Management also play significant roles here, as they help in uncovering patterns and ensuring data is organized and accessible.
Investing in Analytics Tools can streamline the process of analysing and interpreting data. From Data Warehousing solutions that store and manage large volumes of data-to-Data Analytics Software that provides advanced analytical capabilities, the right tools can make a significant difference in efficiency and accuracy.
Data Engineering supports these efforts by designing and maintaining systems that process and store data efficiently. Meanwhile, Artificial Intelligence can enhance these systems by automating complex tasks and providing deeper insights through advanced algorithms.
A solid understanding of Statistical Analysis and Data Modelling is crucial for interpreting data accurately. These techniques help in making sense of the data and ensuring that insights are reliable and actionable. Data Governance ensures that data is used ethically and complies with relevant regulations, while Real-Time Analytics provides immediate insights that can influence quick decision-making.
Data Integration is another important aspect, as it involves combining data from various sources to create a unified view. Effective Data Reporting practices are essential for communicating insights to stakeholders clearly and effectively.
In summary, the synergy between Data Analysis, Business Intelligence, and cutting-edge technologies like Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence can unlock significant value for businesses. By investing in the right Analytics Tools and adhering to best practices in Data Management and Governance, organizations can harness the full potential of their data and drive strategic growth.
#Data & Analytics#Data Engineering#Data Integration#Data Management#Big Data#Data Reporting#Predictive Analytics#data analytic providers
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Pipedrive CRM template for Looker Studio (+ free template)
Analyze the key metrics of your sales department, drill down into particular deals, find the top performers, and stay on top of your Pipedrive sales.
#dashboard#dashboard template#data automation#data visualization#crm#pipedrive#looker studio#data reporting#reporting#data analytics
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Understanding data reporting: types, benefits, and examples
Working with analytics is often disliked by many due to historically boring data reports that require special skills for interpretation. Unfortunately, in the 2020s, a significant number of businesses still rely on suboptimal data reporting strategies. It’s essential to explore how data reporting can be done effectively to transform this into a benefit for companies.
The success of companies depends on collecting, tracking, and analyzing data, covering a wide range of information such as marketing campaigns, sales figures, team efficiency, key performance indicators, and various metrics. Data reports act as a heartbeat monitor for a business, indicating its overall health.
In this post, we will delve into the fundamentals of data reporting, exploring different types of reports and their business advantages. We will also discuss the significance of data visualization for better comprehension and decision-making.
Understanding Data Reporting
Historically, data handling was manual and time-consuming, needing more freshness of real-time updates. Modern reporting tools and analytics platforms automate and enhance reporting processes, providing well-formatted, real-time information. This allows decision-makers to draw conclusions and take prompt action.
Data reports can take various formats, including traditional reports with raw numbers, visualized data using graphs and charts, and enhanced solutions like intuitive dashboards.
Importance of Reporting
Despite the straightforward need for businesses to handle data analytics, challenges persist. Many employees are not “analytics-literate,” if reports are time-consuming to create or understand, it becomes a red flag for businesses. Outdated reporting methods, such as static PDFs and Excel spreadsheets, contribute to employee dissatisfaction and stress when working with data.
Effective reporting is crucial because it allows businesses to uncover insights, cut costs, and make informed decisions. Organizations can eliminate manual work and reduce errors by implementing automation and custom reporting solutions.
Benefits of Data Reporting
When modern tools and data analytics work together, businesses experience immediate tangible value. Proper data reporting offers several advantages:
Better Understanding of the Big Picture: Simple-to-use dashboards keep teams on track, making crucial information accessible to analytics specialists and regular users.
Not Missing Critical Insights: Real-time updates lower the chances of overlooking essential business discoveries, whether positive opportunities or negative trends.
Faster and Informed Decision-Making: Curated, well-presented data simplifies perception, enabling more precise decision-making based on accurate information.
Enhanced Budget Distribution and Planning: Data reports provide a comprehensive information view, helping allocate resources effectively and make informed budget decisions.
Plenty of Room for Customization: Data reports can be tailored to suit various objectives, enhancing usability and flexibility.
Data Reporting Methods
Data reports can be static or interactive, with auto-updating options for continuous access to fresh data. Common approaches for presenting data include:
Narrative Reporting: Verbal or written format, often used for market research or presenting conclusions.
Tabular Data Reporting: Organizing data in tables, commonly used for calculations, financial reports, or database information.
Statistical Data Reporting: Providing an overview of statistics and data analysis results using tables, graphs, text, and comparisons.
Graphical Reports: Focusing on visual elements with minimal text, using various charts, graphs, and other visualizations.
Dashboards: Interactive visual reports incorporating various data representation types for near-time or real-time data monitoring, facilitated by powerful tools for dashboard reporting.
Infographics: Mixing various data formats emphasizing visuals, usually static but visually appealing.
Types of Data Reports
Data reporting can take various forms, including overview reports, SEO reports, key performance indicator reports, customer reports, sales reports, status reports, financial reports, and research reports.
Tips for Reporting Data Effectively
Define the Report’s Purpose: Clearly identify each report’s aim to avoid complexity and ensure it serves its specific purpose.
Decide on the Metrics: Pin down relevant metrics, considering whether they can coexist in one report or need to be split for better evaluation.
Check the Data Sources: Ensure transparent data sources, merging methods, and data trustworthiness to obtain accurate results.
Organize the Data: Integrate data from multiple sources into a centralized system to avoid blind spots.
Consider the User: Make reports adjustable for different user roles and ensure accessibility from various devices for effective collaboration.
Mind Usability: Simplify reports with clear layouts, colors, and element placement, enhancing data relevance and usability.
Check Data Accuracy: Prioritize the quality and accuracy of displayed information, avoiding duplicates, outdated data, and inconsistencies.
Closing Remarks on Data Reports
In a constantly changing market, businesses must stay up-to-date with the latest and most relevant data. When approached thoughtfully, flexible and modern data analysis reports offer a comprehensive view, allowing companies to make informed decisions and stay competitive in the long run.
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A Fair Warning
It was only a matter of time, and a long awaited and well deserved comeuppance, when Joker tried to hurt the wrong person or people.
Not everyone was going to play his games like 'Batsy' does. Not everyone will hesitate or let him live should he put his hands on someone to hurt them. Not everyone will believe Arkham could 'fix' him, he just needed more time and help.
No.
This time Joker bit off more than he could chew when he kidnapped the newly hired Arkham psychiatrist Jasmine Fenton (and he had plans, so many plans, for her. With her mixture of Harley's mind and her looks matching Gordon's daughter would sure to cause some chaos and pain in memories) and the girl's visiting sister Danielle 'Ellie' (and did he laugh when he noticed the 'Wayne' adoptive looks the girl had, on the fun he'll have, maybe he'll beat her the way he beat the second Robin just for funzie's, it'll no doubt upset Batman) from Jasmine's apartment.
He had plans to keep the Bats guessing where he was and by the time they reach him it'll be far to late for them to save either of the two girls, he had just sent the little video he taped to the Bats and the police to get the ball rolling...
So...
So why did a shiver run down his spine for the first time in years when they both looked unafraid (it was their eyes that made him shiver, a look of already dead yet somehow alive, something he never seen before. He's seen the light fade from people's eyes before yes, he's even laughed as he watch people desperately cling onto life only for it to fade into nothing as they took a final breath but never have he seen someone, something alive yet dead at the same time before. It, their eyes, held a natural yet unnatural sense as they stared at him, stared at everything that made him Joker and it unnerved him), honestly they looked very bored, and one of them (the youngest of the two, and the one with more of the look of death than life in their eyes) said with a chill tune in their tone.
"Last chance to back out of this Freakshows Reject. You wont like what'll be waiting for you."
The tone alone was enough to send another bone deep chill down Joker's spine.
But instead of listening to his natural instincts, the deep inkling of run blaring at him, Joker merely placed a grin on his face, ignoring the strain he felt from doing so, and said as nastily as he could in order to scare the two girls (BOTH OF THEM STILL LOOKED BORED WITH HIM?!?! Not even a twitch of fear!)
"OH? And pray tell what is awaiting little ol' me hum?"
His mocking question got a wide feral grin from the smaller girl, a grin with sharp teeth and iris eyes beginning to bleed slowly from sky blue to neon green with each second he stared at her and he barely stopped himself from jumping in his spot when Jasmine answered his question.
"Your end."
-x-x-
By the time the Bats get to the warehouse Joker had taken Dr. Jasmine 'Jazz' Fenton and Danielle 'Ellie' Fenton they were prepared for anything and everything to go wrong. As much as they held the tiniest bit of hope that the two young women were still okay they knew better than to really do, this was the Joker that had them after all.
They had manged to narrow down his location much quicker than normal when they gotten Joker's first video and his little 'game' he was setting the Bats on, most locations he gave them were going to be red herrings or traps to keep them busy and it would had worked. Batman and the others would had been searching for hours for even a hint of the clue of where the Joker and his hostages were actually being kept.
It was nearly, not really, a shame all of Joker's plans went to waste when Red Hood had stumbled onto something when scooping out Jasmine's apartment with Red Robin.
You see, not only were they looking for clues at first but something about the apartment Jasmine rented seemed off, Red Robin noticed it first and called in back up encase there was more to oldest Fenton than what they could dig up (oldest daughter of Dr's. Jackson and Madeline Fenton, grew up in a small Illinois town, straight A student and a goal to become a psychologist, has two younger siblings, etc etc) and their suspension raised up more when the moment Red Hood entered the apartment and seemed to freeze for a moment.
Red Hood couldn't really explain it but he said it felt like something was... strange. Not evil bad danger strange but it felt familiar? Like he was a kid again on the streets and had walked into someone else's territory but knew the person wouldn't be too much of a hardass about it as long as he didn't stur up trouble or disrespect. A kind of... as long as you don't fuck around you won't find out feeling.
It was because of this feeling that Jason had manged to stumble across something in the room, his instincts telling him there was more to it, and they had discovered a clunky old custom PDA hidden away in a false floorboard in the office room. Thankfully Red Robin, was there in person because the old thing apparently had a rather ingenious firewall to keep others (aka Hackers) OUT but it did nothing against someone who held the main thing.
But still it took Red Robin almost frying the damn thing to get to open up, turns out the ghost and star stickers on the PDA was a rather large hint of the pass code. Once Red Robin was in the PDA he noticed some rather interesting files, one of them labeled "Gremlin Tracking" with a tiny green blob with red eyes and a green outlined star as the icons.
Curiosity taking a hold on the most curious of the Bats he opened it up, hoping it would need another password, and watched as the screen split into two maps, one was... strange, there was no land marks or anything but the star icon seemed to be right in the middle of wherever it was and the only hint of anything was the name "baby brother" and the map labeled as IR.
The other one showed an above map of Gotham, before zooming into the city, heading towards some abandoned warehouses Red Robin knew of and stopped right at one. This was the green blob icon, the short abbreviation for Gotham in the corner of the map, and the name for the icon was 'baby sister'
Red Robin immediately got onto coms to tell the others of what apparently was a tracker for Jasmine's younger siblings. Some questioned why the young woman had trackers on her siblings, though some of the others snarked back that "oh didn't know keeping trackers on each other wasn't normal. Mind if I loose the one you got on me than?"
After a quick sweep into the warehouses camera feeds, the very few up that could be accessed, done by Oracle they quickly discovered that yes the tracking on the younger girl of the two, Danielle Fenton, was correct and that was where they and Joker were at.
Despite this, Batman decided that in order to make sure Joker didn't have suspicion that they already know his actual location he made sure to send a few of the others to the fake locations.
So here they were now, staking out the warehouse where they could see a few of the Jokers goons walking around and looking for a way into the building without alerting any of them. As they talked low into coms, Robin mentioning a possible way in for Red Robin by how small it was, Red Robin hissing back a "just because you got a growth spurt doesn't mean you can poke fun at my height you little-"
"Wait!" Red Hood suddenly hissed shouted, his tone startling the rest of them and they all turned their heads to him. Batman made a quick and harsh grunt as a way to say "report."
Under his helmet Jason's eyes were wide and wild. He could feel something, something huge was on the rise, like something was out of sight but the energy of it was felt.
And if Jason could feel it from his spot, the Jokers goons all felt the same thing from the way they all dropped their weapons, turned toward the warehouse and looked ready to bolt like scared animals.
Jason opened his mouth to explain but fell silent when the feeling suddenly popped. Whatever was causing the feeling was here and like the calm before the storm he could only watch as the first drop of rain fall.
The next thing they know, was the noise and the screaming.
It was inhuman, a mixture of noise and sounds to hard to explain. The closest they could explain was a thousand voices coming in all at once mixing with radio static that kept changing volume so only few words could be even hinted at, and the angry cawing of crows along with the flapping of their wings as they took flight. The noise was so bad that many who heard it nearly ripped their coms out, or covered their ears. Thankfully it only lasted a few seconds.
Then, the air itself shifted. It felt like the coldest of winter nights and bone chilling shivers ran down their bodies for a moment. The air was suddenly that sharp cold that hurt to breathe sometimes.
The goons surrounding the warehouse fled in fear. Many scrambling to get far, far away from whatever was happening. If they felt even a fraction of what Jason could feel, he could understand. He honestly felt like a small animal cornered by a predator and there was no escape.
Then just as suddenly as it happened, everything shifted again. The noise of Gotham returned to normal, cars honking, a stray cat hissing or a dog barking, police sirens in the distance, hissing steam from a nearby factory. The air went from winter cold to a chill mid winter harbor feel now.
Once everyone registered what had just happened and not wanting to waste anymore time they bolted towards the warehouse, cautious and alert in case they needed to fight. Batman went in first, quickly making his way to the area he knew Joker would be with the Fenton sisters and wondered just what the fuck was that? Did Joker do something? Was he messing with things outside of his usual MO?!
He walked into the room and stopped.
There was nothing.
The room was in fact the room Joker had used to record his first message to them, the layout was correct and the evidence of two people who had been tied up were still there as well, ropes that weren't cut sitting on them, a lone lamp light above shining down from above no doubt to emphasize the two girls were meant to be the 'stars' of Jokers latest show. Thing was, the two weren't there despite the fact Oracle swore she could see them a few mins ago from a camera set up in the room, she would later explain that she heard the noise as well and that all her tech had glitched hard.
The only other thing in the room was, sitting innocently on one of the chairs was a green sticky note and on a tiny pillow was a tiny sickly green orb with hints of purple, white, and red swirling in it.
A note they would later read the following message written on it after carefully examining it over.
'Joker learned not to touch what is mine to protect. Sorry not sorry, but hey one less killer clown and he was warned not my fault he didn't take it seriously... The massive amount of souls wanting to rip apart the Joker's soul into nothing was quite a sight to be honest.
They were so ruthless. Best not mess with the vengeful dead am I right?
PS. I left a tiny gift for Jason Todd aka Robin Two. It's the tiniest piece of Joker's soul left over after everyone else got done. He can finish it off since he's a reverent and all, and well they need their revenge filled in order to peacefully move on later or else they'll be stuck forever in a loop of madness and revenge. So yeah. Hope he likes the gift.'
D.P.'
It took Jason less than a second after those words were spoken out to reach for the orb, ignoring the cautious and alarmed cries of the others, and could feel deep, deep, deep in his own soul the absolute pure weeping joy as he threw the orb onto the floor, the bottom shattering thus it didn't roll away and stomped hard with his reinforced boots. Crushing the broken orb into more pieces and if one listened closely they could hear the pure screaming terror that came from it.
And Jason for the first time in years felt his rage finally leave him.
#danny phantom dc#danny phantom#danny fenton#dp x dc#crossover#blue rambles#writing ideas#random idea#dpxdc#Danny is like a cryptid in this one#is he the Ghost King? Or just a very very powerful ghost that can help stabilize other ghosts into a corporal form? idk you pick#The Bats return to base only to find all data on Jazz gone#even the report on her and Danielle being kidnapped are gone#even the Joker's recording is gone#like it never happened#if they try confronting her she only smiles and says she warned him or says 'Joker who?'#The only thing they have left that's proof is the sticky note and the PDA Tim still has#when he later looks at the history and data he noticed it move#for a few mins the tracker for 'baby brother' had moved from IR to Gotham right next to 'baby sister' before returning to IR with the other#this happened right on the dot of Jason warning them to wait#I love writing the 'Joker fucked around and found out' stories tbh#any mistakes I will fix later#I still need new glasses can barely see rn
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Trump's War on The Environment Continues
#Donald Trump#EPA#Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data#Climate Crisis#Pollution#Polluters#Capitalism#War on the Environment#Coal#Water#Executive Orders#water pressure standards#News#Climate Report
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"While 988 represents a significant expansion of crisis care, it also represents an expansion of location tracking capabilities and nonconsensual practices in social support services. 988 policymakers have adopted and defended the practice of nonconsensual intervention, disregarding the voices of hotline users, psychiatric survivors, human rights organizations, and crisis care experts who condemn the practice. In addition to defending non-consensual intervention, 988 administrators have advocated to increase the surveillance of hotline users, asking the federal government to grant the Lifeline unprecedented location tracking capabilities. Simultaneously, the Lifeline has avoided calls for transparency and maintained secrecy around the number of non-consensual interventions their hotlines are initiating and the negative consequences that helpseekers have faced as a result. Undeterred by the contradiction of the life-threatening harms that can be caused by non-consensual interventions, 988 officials continue to make claims that the use of these interventions allows them to better achieve their goal of providing “life-saving services.”
Since its creation, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline has increased its reach to the U.S. public through a national marketing campaign. In this campaign, 988 regularly advertises itself as a “private” and “confidential” resource for people in crisis, offering a safe space to discuss one's struggles. Not included in this advertising is any disclosure about the possibility of emergency interventions, which can include law enforcement, and in particular that such interventions can occur without a helpseeker’s knowledge or consent. In spite of efforts by advocates and survivors of non-consensual intervention, 988 officials have continued to obscure the policies and practices that render their advertising misleading and dishonest. This lack of transparency has meant that the public is largely unaware of the potential negative consequences of calling 988. Despite good intentions in its design, in reality, 988 has created another pipeline for people experiencing crisis to come into contact with potentially unwanted and unhelpful interventions. These interventions can ultimately harm, traumatize, and discourage people from reaching out for help."
-The Problem With 988: How America's Largest Hotline Violates Consent, Compromises Safety, and Fails the People. Safe Hotlines Report, 2024.
#personal#psych abolition#madpunk#antipsychiatry#surviving psych#ableism#disability#mental health#sorry for all the random tags but this one i would Like ppl to see. because this report finally has teh data for the shit we've been talkin#about for years#mental illness#hotlines#crisis hotline#988lifeline
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Palantir’s NHS-stealing Big Lie

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TUCSON (Mar 9-10), then SAN FRANCISCO (Mar 13), Anaheim, and more!
Capitalism's Big Lie in four words: "There is no alternative." Looters use this lie for cover, insisting that they're hard-nosed grownups living in the reality of human nature, incentives, and facts (which don't care about your feelings).
The point of "there is no alternative" is to extinguish the innovative imagination. "There is no alternative" is really "stop trying to think of alternatives, dammit." But there are always alternatives, and the only reason to demand that they be excluded from consideration is that these alternatives are manifestly superior to the looter's supposed inevitability.
Right now, there's an attempt underway to loot the NHS, the UK's single most beloved institution. The NHS has been under sustained assault for decades – budget cuts, overt and stealth privatisation, etc. But one of its crown jewels has been stubbournly resistant to being auctioned off: patient data. Not that HMG hasn't repeatedly tried to flog patient data – it's just that the public won't stand for it:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/21/nhs-data-platform-may-be-undermined-by-lack-of-public-trust-warn-campaigners
Patients – quite reasonably – do not trust the private sector to handle their sensitive medical records.
Now, this presents a real conundrum, because NHS patient data, taken as a whole, holds untold medical insights. The UK is a large and diverse country and those records in aggregate can help researchers understand the efficacy of various medicines and other interventions. Leaving that data inert and unanalysed will cost lives: in the UK, and all over the world.
For years, the stock answer to "how do we do science on NHS records without violating patient privacy?" has been "just anonymise the data." The claim is that if you replace patient names with random numbers, you can release the data to research partners without compromising patient privacy, because no one will be able to turn those numbers back into names.
It would be great if this were true, but it isn't. In theory and in practice, it is surprisingly easy to "re-identify" individuals in anonymous data-sets. To take an obvious example: we know which two dates former PM Tony Blair was given a specific treatment for a cardiac emergency, because this happened while he was in office. We also know Blair's date of birth. Check any trove of NHS data that records a person who matches those three facts and you've found Tony Blair – and all the private data contained alongside those public facts is now in the public domain, forever.
Not everyone has Tony Blair's reidentification hooks, but everyone has data in some kind of database, and those databases are continually being breached, leaked or intentionally released. A breach from a taxi service like Addison-Lee or Uber, or from Transport for London, will reveal the journeys that immediately preceded each prescription at each clinic or hospital in an "anonymous" NHS dataset, which can then be cross-referenced to databases of home addresses and workplaces. In an eyeblink, millions of Britons' records of receiving treatment for STIs or cancer can be connected with named individuals – again, forever.
Re-identification attacks are now considered inevitable; security researchers have made a sport out of seeing how little additional information they need to re-identify individuals in anonymised data-sets. A surprising number of people in any large data-set can be re-identified based on a single characteristic in the data-set.
Given all this, anonymous NHS data releases should have been ruled out years ago. Instead, NHS records are to be handed over to the US military surveillance company Palantir, a notorious human-rights abuser and supplier to the world's most disgusting authoritarian regimes. Palantir – founded by the far-right Trump bagman Peter Thiel – takes its name from the evil wizard Sauron's all-seeing orb in Lord of the Rings ("Sauron, are we the baddies?"):
https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/01/the-palantir-will-see-you-now/#public-private-partnership
The argument for turning over Britons' most sensitive personal data to an offshore war-crimes company is "there is no alternative." The UK needs the medical insights in those NHS records, and this is the only way to get at them.
As with every instance of "there is no alternative," this turns out to be a lie. What's more, the alternative is vastly superior to this chumocratic sell-out, was Made in Britain, and is the envy of medical researchers the world 'round. That alternative is "trusted research environments." In a new article for the Good Law Project, I describe these nigh-miraculous tools for privacy-preserving, best-of-breed medical research:
https://goodlawproject.org/cory-doctorow-health-data-it-isnt-just-palantir-or-bust/
At the outset of the covid pandemic Oxford's Ben Goldacre and his colleagues set out to perform realtime analysis of the data flooding into NHS trusts up and down the country, in order to learn more about this new disease. To do so, they created Opensafely, an open-source database that was tied into each NHS trust's own patient record systems:
https://timharford.com/2022/07/how-to-save-more-lives-and-avoid-a-privacy-apocalypse/
Opensafely has its own database query language, built on SQL, but tailored to medical research. Researchers write programs in this language to extract aggregate data from each NHS trust's servers, posing medical questions of the data without ever directly touching it. These programs are published in advance on a git server, and are preflighted on synthetic NHS data on a test server. Once the program is approved, it is sent to the main Opensafely server, which then farms out parts of the query to each NHS trust, packages up the results, and publishes them to a public repository.
This is better than "the best of both worlds." This public scientific process, with peer review and disclosure built in, allows for frequent, complex analysis of NHS data without giving a single third party access to a a single patient record, ever. Opensafely was wildly successful: in just months, Opensafely collaborators published sixty blockbuster papers in Nature – science that shaped the world's response to the pandemic.
Opensafely was so successful that the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care commissioned a review of the programme with an eye to expanding it to serve as the nation's default way of conducting research on medical data:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/better-broader-safer-using-health-data-for-research-and-analysis/better-broader-safer-using-health-data-for-research-and-analysis
This approach is cheaper, safer, and more effective than handing hundreds of millions of pounds to Palantir and hoping they will manage the impossible: anonymising data well enough that it is never re-identified. Trusted Research Environments have been endorsed by national associations of doctors and researchers as the superior alternative to giving the NHS's data to Peter Thiel or any other sharp operator seeking a public contract.
As a lifelong privacy campaigner, I find this approach nothing short of inspiring. I would love for there to be a way for publishers and researchers to glean privacy-preserving insights from public library checkouts (such a system would prove an important counter to Amazon's proprietary god's-eye view of reading habits); or BBC podcasts or streaming video viewership.
You see, there is an alternative. We don't have to choose between science and privacy, or the public interest and private gain. There's always an alternative – if there wasn't, the other side wouldn't have to continuously repeat the lie that no alternative is possible.

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/08/the-fire-of-orodruin/#are-we-the-baddies
Image: Gage Skidmore (modified) https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peter_Thiel_(51876933345).jpg
CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
#pluralistic#peter thiel#trusted research environment#opensafely#medical data#floss#privacy#reidentification#anonymization#anonymisation#nhs#ukpoli#uk#ben goldacre#goldacre report#science#evidence-based medicine#goldacre review#interoperability#transparency
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Footage from the Gravitational Anomy Incident is unrecoverable, and all hard copies must be destroyed to avoid investigation interference.
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Curious whether there really was more of our favourite headless Tudor in season 5? Wonder no more, the data scientists are here! 👻🤍
#bbc ghosts#important science#sir humphrey bone#laurence rickard#data scientisting is important work#mooseidiot crochets#and does Very Important Science#bone density report#the young human of my acquaintance#six idiots
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Facebook Ads dashboard (free template below)
Derive valuable insights on the performance of your advertising campaigns with the help of our ready-to-go #FacebookAdsDashboard template built in #LookerStudio. Get instant access to essential ad performance metrics and evaluate campaign effectiveness in real-time to be able to make decisions driven by data. Think of the Facebook Ads reporting dashboard as an effective assistant to declutter your ad analytics, which you can effortlessly integrate into your reporting workflow.
#data visualization#digital marketing#marketing#dashboard template#dashboard#facebook ads#data automation#data reporting#ads analytics#looker studio#Facebook ads dashboard#facebook advertising#data analytics#couplerio
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cant sleep so i’m listening to zaynes secret times: sleep science (affinity 105) and i genuinely got whiplash from realizing that i actually love this man so much he’s actually so fucking hilarious (spoilers under cut but really it’s just me babbling on and on)
he goes let’s go back to counting sheep but instead, change it up with something sleep inducing.. and i’m like oh what. he goes REPORTS I ACRUALLY FUCKING SNORTED i genuinely couldn’t stop fucking laughing i was like wide awake at that point- THEN to top it off he sets the scene for us explaining what the reports look like and how extremely boring they are then literally counts all the way to 100 reports 😭😭😭 this man is genuinely the funniest person ever i’m still laughing but not to mention so love ridden he literally counted each number putting “report” at the end just so his girl can fall asleep 😞🙏
#i just can’t imagine how boring it must’ve been for his VA LOL#which is actually so funny in line of the actual silent time that was being recorded#maybe we can stretch this to also say that zayne finds reports extremely boring and he too is human bc i know some ppl forget this </3#on a separate note i actually love secret times i wish i could get data on what everyone’s favorite secret time is and why#maybe one day </3#ok nightie guys#sugarphoric#yves shortwirings#love and deepspace#zayne#zayne love and deepspace#lads zayne#lads#lnds#lds#zayne secret times#secret times#lads secret times#zayne x reader#zayne x mc#zaynemc#zayne x you
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Salamandra s. salamandra - Dunkelsteinerwald NÖ Austria
we saw three!! different fire salamanders on our morning walk
#i'm always hyped to see these#i need to pull my strength together and just start taking the nice camera on morning walks#also should probably make an i naturalist account since reports there are the main resource of data for environmental habitat protection#if i somehow become rich i would spend it on buying most of the woods here and returning them from wood farming into natural habitat#there is such a diversity of amphibians here#also i have personal petty gripes with most of the dudes owning the woods around here#anyways a guy can dream#fire salamander
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TDP Colour Association Survey
I wanted to try something a little wild and wacky with all of you. Below is a survey of different TDP characters - asking what colour you most associate with them:
I’d really appreciate it if you filled it out! I’d super DUPER appreciate it if you shared it with others to boost the sample size. When I have enough responses I want to be able to post the results here for everyone.
Just some things to mention first:
This is completely anonymous - I won’t have access to any personal information. All I’ll get on my end are the answers you’ve chosen
This is completely voluntary - I can’t force you to take this survey, you are free to skip any questions you don’t feel like answering
There is no guaranteed outcome - I really want to post the findings, but that depends on the number of participants I get in the end. I also can’t compensate you for your time with anything other than a thank you
With that out of the way, thank you for reading my spiel. If you’re interested in helping, fill out the survey and/or spread it around (reblog, share, etc) so others can respond!
#i’m studying to be a researcher atm so this is kind of like practice#(not that i intend to do some insane statistical analysis with the data tho)#the dragon prince#tdp#tdp fandom#tdp headcanons#continue the saga#give us the saga#greenlight arc 3#catcher writes (writes!)#<- this time it’s writing a report?#(tagging SOME of the characters included in the survey to boost reach)#tdp aaravos#tdp amaya#tdp astrid#tdp callum#tdp corvus#tdp ezran#tdp nyx#tdp janai#tdp rayla#tdp runaan#tdp soren#tdp terry#tdp viren
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Automakers are collecting driving data from customers and quietly providing it to insurance companies, and the practice has resulted in some unassuming drivers seeing their coverage increased or even terminated due to the practice, a new report reveals.
The New York Times reported this week that car manufacturers like General Motors and Ford are tracking drivers’ behavior through internet-connected vehicles, and sharing it with data brokers such as LexisNexis and Verisk, which create “consumer disclosure reports” on individuals that insurance companies can access.
The consumer reports do not show where a driver has traveled, but they do provide information on length of trips and driving behavior, such as “hard braking,” “hard accelerating” and speeding. Insurance companies can use those reports to assess the risk of a current or potential customer, and adjust rates or refuse coverage based on the findings.
The Times highlighted the case of Kenn Dahl, the driver of a leased Chevrolet Bolt, who learned he and his wife's driving habits were being tracked when an insurance agent told him in 2022 that his LexisNexis report was a factor behind his insurance premium jumping 21%.
“It felt like a betrayal,” Dahl told the newspaper. “They’re taking information that I didn’t realize was going to be shared and screwing with our insurance.”
(continue reading) related ←
#politics#lexisnexis#data mining#smart cars#car insurance#privacy rights#kenn dahl#spyware#capitalism#privacy#consumer disclosure reports
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oh yeah i literally just remembered this now but i go on holiday next monday and will likely not be able to watch the stream because the train i have to take runs through the middle of nowhere and has shitty connection. sorry orz
#i really wanted to liveblog and report on it i'm sorry...#i also won't have wifi for that entire week but should have enough data to pull through#don't expect me to be very active though#mod talks
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