UK Biobank data of 500,000 offered for sale in China
Reliability
Based on 19 sources
Publications (13)
Sources (19)Fact-Checking
36 claimsDetails of 500,000 UK Biobank members were offered for sale online in China.
The information did not include names, addresses, contact details or telephone numbers.
The information had been legitimately downloaded by three research institutions in China.
Open Questions
5 questionsThe Guardian demonstrated that a volunteer could be re-identified using month/year of birth and surgery details, raising privacy concerns.
According to The Guardian - Science, www.freevacy.comUK Biobank states no identifying data was provided and there is no evidence of re-identification by others.
According to The Guardian - ScienceContext: This contradiction highlights a fundamental disagreement about the privacy risk: if re-identification is possible, participants' privacy may be compromised despite anonymization.
Data was listed for sale on a Chinese consumer website (Taobao/Alibaba).
According to pharmaphorum.com, Daily Express - UK NewsData was inadvertently exposed on GitHub due to researcher error.
According to The Guardian - Science, www.freevacy.comContext: This contradiction affects the perceived intent: sale suggests malicious intent, while inadvertent exposure suggests negligence. Both may be true as separate incidents.