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Peter Gøtzsche
Nov 25, 2012, 4:15:45 AM11/25/12
to pathtodata...@googlegroups.com
Dear all,
I am a member of two other email lists where it is clear we want and
need privacy in order to further our objectives, so I hadn't dreamed
of this list being open. It has nothing to do with what James Heilman
says, that if we are asking Pharma to be open we must be willing to be
open ourselves. Nothing at all. I am open about my research data but
would not like to have a society with secret microphones everywhere; I
suppose you all remember the DDR, which was our neighbour country;
Orwell at full speed. Hence my reference to Orwell's 1984.
James, do you really think that also in a war one should be open about
everything, including where the next attack will be and how many
soldiers will be allocated? Wars are usually about money, and our war
with industry about data access is to an incredible degree a war about
money, as we wouldn't use so many drugs, and so expensive drugs, if we
really knew their true value.
The issue is that we are up against the most wealthy and therefore
also most powerful industry in the world, which is against access to
data. Therefore, I am not willing to discuss my ideas on this open
list any longer.
Sorry for my outburst yesterday; there are great people on this list
(including the one who set it up who I now know who is) but I was
really shocked. I am so old that I have learned that you don't open a
letter that is not meant for you!
bw
Peter
I think openness is key. If we are asking Pharma to be open we must be
willing to be open ourselves. In the world of Facebook / Wikileaks it
is good practice to never do or say anything that you are not happy to
stand by if it became public or hit the front page of the NYTs. IMO
this is a good philosophy in life generally. I see this as the
opposite of 1984. It is almost impossible to delete some document from
your past even if you want to, there is no memory whole. This is a
return to a smaller world. When people lived in small groups they
where keep honest and decent through everyone with whom they interact
knowing their personal life. When they moved into large anonymous
societies people where more willing to do unethical things as they
where able to keep it from their friends. With the Internet this is no
longer the case and people need to adjust to this reality.
James Heilman
MD, CCFP(EM), Wikipedian
I am a member of two other email lists where it is clear we want and
need privacy in order to further our objectives, so I hadn't dreamed
of this list being open. It has nothing to do with what James Heilman
says, that if we are asking Pharma to be open we must be willing to be
open ourselves. Nothing at all. I am open about my research data but
would not like to have a society with secret microphones everywhere; I
suppose you all remember the DDR, which was our neighbour country;
Orwell at full speed. Hence my reference to Orwell's 1984.
James, do you really think that also in a war one should be open about
everything, including where the next attack will be and how many
soldiers will be allocated? Wars are usually about money, and our war
with industry about data access is to an incredible degree a war about
money, as we wouldn't use so many drugs, and so expensive drugs, if we
really knew their true value.
The issue is that we are up against the most wealthy and therefore
also most powerful industry in the world, which is against access to
data. Therefore, I am not willing to discuss my ideas on this open
list any longer.
Sorry for my outburst yesterday; there are great people on this list
(including the one who set it up who I now know who is) but I was
really shocked. I am so old that I have learned that you don't open a
letter that is not meant for you!
bw
Peter
I think openness is key. If we are asking Pharma to be open we must be
willing to be open ourselves. In the world of Facebook / Wikileaks it
is good practice to never do or say anything that you are not happy to
stand by if it became public or hit the front page of the NYTs. IMO
this is a good philosophy in life generally. I see this as the
opposite of 1984. It is almost impossible to delete some document from
your past even if you want to, there is no memory whole. This is a
return to a smaller world. When people lived in small groups they
where keep honest and decent through everyone with whom they interact
knowing their personal life. When they moved into large anonymous
societies people where more willing to do unethical things as they
where able to keep it from their friends. With the Internet this is no
longer the case and people need to adjust to this reality.
James Heilman
MD, CCFP(EM), Wikipedian
James Heilman
Nov 25, 2012, 4:27:01 AM11/25/12
to pathtodata...@googlegroups.com
It is not that privacy is not sometimes nice to have it is just that privacy in this day and age is hard to obtain. Even the US military was not able to achieve secrecy.
James
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
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