Tech giant gets data from NHS websites

NHS sites use advertising technology which tells Google when people search for advice on issues such as HIV, mental health or abortions, it has been claimed.

Analysis found nine out of ten government websites from across the EU sent data on people’s browsing habits to Google and Facebook, The Times reported last night. Search trackers, known as ‘cookies’, help businesses target users online depending on what they have searched for previously.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright has pledged to investigate trackers and clamp down on the advertising industry.

Researchers from online analysts Cookiebot searched for sensitive health issues and found 60 per cent of UK pages had ad trackers. The so-called ‘cookies’ were found on NHS pages for questions including ‘I have HIV, now what?’ and ‘I want to terminate my pregnancy’.

Johnny Ryan, of Brave, a browser which uses software to block ad trackers, said the research is a ‘call to action for governments’, and that ‘companies must be stopped from inserting themselves between the citizen and the state’.