No long, I'd imagine. But again there is little to no way to figure out for sure whether the Chinese government has this information. The story really highlights the careless handling of data, because the chances of the Chinese government (or any other third part) getting access to these data is way too high.
What kind of interest would you say the Chinese government has in the health records of a few million Danish residents? I don't know, maybe it's really important, but then maybe it's not that critical after all.
Hi, nice to meet you Johan! Can I get you a drink? Oh, you're an electrician? That's nice, I sell light fixtures.
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Good to see you again Johan! You'll never believe, I was down at XYZ Clinic yesterday, and they'd left your file out!! Careless right? How did you break it to your wife you had herpes? Oh, she didn't know?! Man, sorry I mentioned it, I'll keep that quiet for sure.
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Man, it's been a hard month Johan. Sales are down! Hey, you told me you worked at the DaneSecure building right? Oh you didn't? Someone else must have told me that. But look, don't worry. I can keep secrets!! Look could you do me a favour? I need to know what kind of light fixtures they use at DaneSecure so I can pitch to them. Could you take a look and let me know? I'd like to know what kind they are, and specifically, how many are installed on Level 7. You know we're friends, because you know I can keep my mouth shut.
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Johan, we have a problem!!! My boss said that because we're Chinese-owned, you telling me about the light-fittings in a classified area is technically passing on state secrets!!! You have a lawyer right? No?! OK, here's the plan, don't tell anybody, and we'll figure a way to keep us both out of jail!
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Are you OK Johan? You look kind of pale. You haven't been worrying about this all week have you? Oh you have? OK well don't worry, I've got a solution. My boss has said he thinks he can stop our corporate lawyers reporting it, and we'll both be fine. There's a small catch favour he wants from us though. He needs to know the power consumption of the floor to help us tailor our pitch. Do you think you could plug this thing in to a light fixture for me? I think we're both going to be fine...
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Johan, I have some bad news for you? Remember I said I sold light fixtures? Well that wasn't the whole truth...
They use it can track the movements of Chinese residents abroad, to blackmail Danes who are assisting Chinese disidents, run scams at doctors offices or insurers in order to get documentation for spies. I am sure there is more, I am no expert in this sort of thing.
Plus identity theft to help spies assume a false identity when gathering information. And of course: Selling the health records to insurers in order to allow them to set prices for prospective customers. I'm sure insurance companies would pay nicely for this.
1. Denmark does not have a private health insurance market.
2. Any company even considering about doing this would be in a huge pot of boiling water, if the public, or the police got wind of it.
Any above-board business would not want to touch lost/stolen health data with a ten-foot pole. In addition to the legalities of this, this opens a huge liability hole, in terms of keeping it secure.
Executive blackmail I imagine. You're a Chinese billionaire with connections to the government, you are in the midst of a deal with a large Danish corporation, you email you're government contacts for the medical records of all the executives of that company. You find out one is an alcoholic, one has recently contracted herpes (and his wife hasn't), and so forth.
