Abbott Labs uses copyright law to shut down open diabetes monitoring software(boingboing.net)

55 pointsby anigbrowl7 lat temu11 comments

Abbott Labs uses copyright law to shut down open diabetes monitoring software

https://boingboing.net/2019/12/12/they-literally-own-you.html

11 comments

deogeo7 lat temu

Impeding medical progress so that they may profit. And the expensive legal firm knows the complaint is without merit. They are knowingly lying about the law, to make their client money, and make life harder for sick people.

None of the people involved should get to hide behind the corporate facade. Abbott Labs' CEO is Miles White: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_D._White

It's unclear who the head of the law firm is, but they have offices in a few major cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkland_%26_Ellis

anigbrowl7 lat temu

LAw firms typically don't have executives and shareholders like a regular corporation, but are structured as partnerships.

toomuchtodo7 lat temu

Time for the SciHub of Git repos?

Arbalest7 lat temu

Seems similar to tactics used by patent trolls. Basically showering you will bullshit you have to defend in court knowing it is bogus and relying on you not being able to fight it. The twist is that they're using Copyright rather than Patent law. I wonder if this is how they're trying to get away from the increased scrutiny of patent abuse.

bigmit377 lat temu

How they shutting it done if it’s open source. Is there anything that can be done?

floatingatoll7 lat temu

The repository owner can file DMCA counterclaim; once they have done so, GitHub will reenable the repository after 2 weeks unless legal action is initiated (not just filing a DMCA).

https://help.github.com/en/github/site-policy/guide-to-submi...

I especially liked this:

> We won't refuse to process an otherwise complete counter notice if you don't include this statement; however, we will know that you haven't read these guidelines and may ask you to go back and do so.

jmb126867 lat temu

My wife (33 years old) was just diagnosed with type 1 diabetes last month. A healthy, under 120 lbs 5 foot 4 woman, who busts her ass for our young children, now has to learn how to keep her blood sugar in check with 4 shots and 6+ finger stick tests per day. Worst of all, accidentally taking too much insulin, or not accounting for unknown variables such as stress, illness, exact carb count of meals, snacks, and exercise, can and will kill you quickly.

I'm disgusted with the current technological advances (aka lack of them) in the diabetes space. The limited tech out there to support an "artificial pancreas" was initiated by a community of hackers [1], and is only supported by a handful of outdated insulin pumps. The manufacturer (medcom) has since "fixed" the vulnerability that allowed outside control inputs. There are a couple decent continuous glucose monitors out now, one by Abbot la s, another by Dexcom, but this only solves half the equation. A true closed loop system feeds continuous glucose monitor readings straight into an insulin pump to administer, algorithmically, microdoses of insulin. This completely eliminates the risk of hypoglycemia and effectively forms an artificial pancreas.

The only reason I fear this kind of tech isn't readily available for all type 1 diabetics is sadly, what's the profit motive to big pharma? They are making a killing off of crap solutions currently available. Trust me, you'd think decades old insulin and glucose meter supplies are affordable by now. These low tech items cost 1000s a month (insurance paid portion).

1) https://openaps.org/

ericmason7 lat temu

Check out Loop https://loopkit.github.io/loopdocs/ it’s an iPhone app and works with Omnipod in addition to the old Medtronic pumps. My wife uses it and it’s a game changer.

distantaidenn7 lat temu

I was able to test the Freestyle Libre device for a couple of months for a friend's research. While I don't have diabetes, it was very enlightening to have constant access to my body's glucose (and indirectly glycogen) levels. I had a near-real-time data stream.

I have practiced intermittent for over a decade, using an 18/6 split. It was so amazing to see my glucose nose dive around midday, then rise and stabilize after about an hour. I assume this was my body switching its energy source from depleted glycogen stores in the liver to lipid (fat) gluconeogenesis.

I know this isn't what the device was designed for, but this would be a complete game-changer for bespoke diet/well-being plans. After a bit of trial and error, you'd know exactly when and what to eat.

After the research ended, I honestly felt like I had lost a sense. My body was running in blind mode again. I would have continued using the device, but at retail, each sensor is around $70 USD.

I hope for a future in which wearables and wireless body monitoring devices become the norm, rather than the exception. There is so much data to be gathered.

Sucks that Abbot has killed this OSS project.

Kaiyou7 lat temu

Why does the sensor not last forever, but only two weeks?

distantaidenn7 lat temu

It's an over the counter device with a subdermal needle. The device needs a blood sample, so it gets fouled by our organic bits. I imagine risk of infection is a large part of the short life span of the product.