00:00 Medical information is perhaps our most private personal data,
00:03 but it turns out hospital websites are giving it away.
00:06 A new study published in JAMA Network Open found that 96% of hospital websites
00:11 transmit user information to third parties.
00:14 The study was conducted by University of Pennsylvania researchers
00:17 who had done another study on the subject last year.
00:19 Google was the most common recipient of users' data.
00:22 Popular Science reports that others include Facebook parent company Meta and Adobe Systems.
00:27 The data is often used for advertising purposes.
00:30 Study co-author Dr. Ari Friedman told tech news site The Register,
00:34 "Why do hospitals have tracking on their web pages?
00:37 It's not that they're taking kickbacks.
00:39 They're doing it because this stuff is ubiquitous across the whole web."
00:42 If you want to protect your own data,
00:44 Friedman recommended using browser extensions like Ghostory and Privacy Badger.
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