> Just knowing someone had previously used the same dataset could have saved him 7 weeks of work.
Information about data is not black-and-white in the corporate world. Even in the same company, internal data is usually on a need-to-know basis, with necessary NDAs. A service that tells you who else is using the data would defeat the purpose.
As an extreme example, what would happen if a service allowed data-sociality with HIPPA-protected data? Not good things.
> internal data is usually on a need-to-know basis, with necessary NDAs
I'd argue that we're in the "unknown unknowns" territory, rather than NDAs being the blocker.
In a company of any significant size, Joe over in Finance is hacking away at a spreadsheet utterly and blissfully unaware that Susan in Corporate would gladly chop her left arm off for the data he's producing.
I don't think open access lists for HIPAA data would be a bad thing. Why do you? In fact, it sounds like a great idea. Shine some light on who is accessing what data.
The fact that a certain specialist has accessed a patient's records would reveal something about their health. Even the frequency of general access conveys information about your health.
Information about data is not black-and-white in the corporate world. Even in the same company, internal data is usually on a need-to-know basis, with necessary NDAs. A service that tells you who else is using the data would defeat the purpose.
As an extreme example, what would happen if a service allowed data-sociality with HIPPA-protected data? Not good things.