This question is not being asked in good faith. Google's intent is not to improve health - it's to get their hands on as much data as possible to then turn around and sell ads.
I think there’s a lot of real good that could come from such datasets, it’s unfortunate this effort is tied to Google somehow because it triggers the privacy zealotry brain off switch of HN.
Not that google is or will do that.
I read your (excellent) longer comment in here, but I think that we should recognize by now that the idea that Google is not doing it now will never equate to that they will not do it when they can. There's a great statement out there about how DoubleClick data wouldn't be connected with Google's existing targeting data... until, of course, it was. And since Google doesn't have the mindset to succeed in businesses other than ads, we should assume they will eventually pivot all data to selling ads eventually.
If you can imagine a scenario where Google could use data for ad money, the only correct take is to act on the assumption they eventually will. And the fact that supposedly reputable organizations like hospitals and the military keep bending over backwards to hand them people's private medical data should be crisis-level alarming.
Personally I love the feature where I can search for people- that pre-existed, in Picasa, for a decade and it was very popular. I guess the only answer is: decouple from Google as much as you can if you don't like the terms.
I'm Illinoisan, where Google illegally used facial recognition on people without their consent. And lines in a ToS about doing whatever they want with your data is not consent, especially because it isn't optional.
Note that settlements do not mean they didn't do something illegal: It means they did something illegal, but are agreeing to pay out money in exchange for not having to admit they did something illegal.
And yes, I've worked to minimize Google's access to my data since 2014. Unfortunately, they seem to like trying to get it from other sources. As mentioned in the article, they've appropriated personal medical data from hospitals without patient consent multiple times.
I don't really think much of these cases.
The case may be poor, but only in the reason that it fails to actually force Google to comply with the law going forward. Facebook was more successfully forced to shut down their facial recognition technology and delete all of the data: https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/02/facebook-face-recognition-...