Originally published September 11 2013
Vaccine company used NSA-like Internet surveillance to circumvent parental concerns about vaccination safety
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) You'd have to be living in a cave to have not heard recently that the National Security Agency has been caught using its incredibly vast and powerful infrastructure to eavesdrop on virtually all Americans' electronic communications. What you probably didn't know, however, is that a vaccine company - GlaxoSmithKline - has been caught using NSA-like Internet surveillance to circumvent concern by parents regarding vaccination safety.
Let's say you're an expectant mother. You're six months along, and you've developed some concerns about vaccines, so you decided to research them. Per VacTruth.com:
Reading about viruses cultured on monkey kidneys, mouse brains, and aborted fetal tissue makes you sick to your stomach. You decide to post the following question, "How do I tell my doctor I don't want this stuff injected into my new baby? I'm scared and don't know what to do. Please help!"
Now, three months later, you're in your pediatrician's office, and you are having the exact same concerns you had earlier, when doing your research. You expect confrontation from your doctor, but instead he or she recites to you, nearly verbatim, the very concerns you posted online. What's more, your pediatrician is similarly armed with all sorts of facts and studies to refute you.
How is that possible? Is your pediatrician a mind reader?
Hardly. He has been given your online posting profile.
In this digital age, all privacy bets are off
"According to a recent news article, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) hired a text analytic software company, called Luminoso, to find out what parents were most concerned about with vaccines," VacTruth.com says. "The news article stated information on two websites were collected, BabyCenter.com and WhattoExpect.com. One of the main purposes was to learn what factors motivate parents to delay vaccinating their children."
Using tactics eerily similar to those used by the NSA, neither website owners nor parents knew that the latter's information was being collected anonymously.
What's more, the reasoning given in the article for committing such an act is that, under current laws, Big Pharma is restricted in how firms can interact with consumers (in this case, parents) about their products (in this case, vaccines).
"However, unlike the NSA, GlaxoSmithKline and others are probably not doing anything illegal - even though their behavior is still very chilling. But, private companies have been known to share information with governments in the past and" we should not forget that, VacTruth.com reports.
'A little intrusive?'
What can you do about such egregious violations of your privacy? Well, a couple of things.
First, educate yourself using sites like ours and other trusted, reliable sources. Knowledge is power. When your doctor cites data, have him or her to tell you what source is being cited; check the study's references and who paid for it (follow the money). Also, make decisions based on evidence, not pressure.
Look, in today's digital age there is probably no way to be 100 percent anonymous, as disappointing as that sounds. Everywhere on the 'Web, there is data - your data - and probably lots of it.
But if you're careful and discerning and you stick to your guns, you can learn the truth about vaccines and, more importantly, what to expect from Big Pharma and other moneyed interests when it comes to pushing vaccines.
Per The Wall Street Journal:
Nicole Yontz, a 36-year-old "mommy blogger" and frequent visitor to WhattoExpect, says she finds Glaxo's monitoring of parent posts "a little intrusive." A visitor posting to the site "is probably a scared parent. You might be a first time parent and while you are looking for help you are getting monitored by this big pharmaceutical company," Ms. Yontz said.
'A little intrusive,' indeed.
Sources:
http://vactruth.com
http://blogs.wsj.com
http://projects.propublica.org
http://science.naturalnews.com
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