David Dobbs
Jul 24, 2017 · 2 min read

Nick, I could quibble or differ with some of the emphases here, but am here really to say I am very glad you posted this, as it explores some of the wrinkles, caveats, and other dimensions of the digital privacy issues I raised and, pressed tightly for space, could not get into at more length or detail in the piece. (Indeed, the areas you cover overlap heavily with copy that was once part of a draft much longer than we had room for; those passages fell, along with many other things I cared about, to the cutting room floor.).

So I’m glad you chimed in here. I did my best to acknowledge the ambiguities regarding the relative exposure of private information by general web use on one hand versus, on the other, additionally using the sorts of services that an approach like Insel’s might bring us. That is a tough calculus. That is why, for example, I wrote that the “question may not be whether [a digital mental-health tracking or intervention service’s] firewall would be perfect, but whether it would be stronger than many porous containers already holding our personal and medical information” [bold emphasis added here].

There’s no question that giving a whole bucket of personal and medical information to any one party raises your risk; question is how much it raises risk over what already exists in financial, social-media, and healthcare and health insurance records; and then, additionally, whether that additional risk is worth taking if it means you can get a sort of mental-health help that isn’t presently available. I know opinions vary on this, as well they should. (One friend, when I told him about the idea of allowing such personal and medical information to rest in a third-party server, said, “No fucking way.”)

As you note at the end, balancing the desire for privacy with the benefits that can be had from connection is ultimately a tough job and a personal one, and these issues badly need more examination as the various efforts to forge smartphone-based mental-health tracking and intervention services progresses.. Your piece should be a help to anyone thinking this through.

David Dobbs

Written by

Write NatGeo, New York Times, Slate, etal. Author 'My Mother's Lover' & other books. Cheerful wee dumpling.