Leading Energy & Commerce Committee Democrats have asked the CEOs of Google and health care provider Ascension for briefings with the companies on reports that Google got access to tens of millions of patient health records as part of the "Project Nightingale" initiative.

That came in letters to both companies.

The legislators want a briefing by Dec. 6 on the project, including how the data is being used and shared, who at Google/Alphabet has access to it, the extent to which patients were informed about the use of their data, and how the companies are protecting privacy

“While we appreciate your efforts to provide the public with further information about Project Nightingale, this initiative raises serious privacy concerns,” they wrote to the companies. For example, longstanding questions related to Google’s commitment to protecting the privacy of its own users’ data raise serious concerns about whether Google can be a good steward of patients’ personal health information.   

"Additionally," they said, "despite the sensitivity of the information collected through Project Nightingale, reports indicate that employees across Google, including at its parent company Alphabet, have access to, and the ability to download, the personal health information of Ascension’s patients. Concerns have also been justifiably raised about Ascension’s decision not to notify its patients that their information would be shared with Google or how their information would be used." 

Signing on to the letter were Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Health Subcommittee Chairwoman Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), and Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Chair Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.).  

Syfy’s Dec. 15 debut of limited series Ascension drew 1.8 million viewers, the network said Tuesday.

The three-night original drama also drew 882,000 adults 25-54, ranking it as one of the top 10 ad supports cable scripted series launches in the demo, alongside two other Syfy shows Dominion and Helix, said the network.

Part two of the series airs tonight (Dec. 16), with the finale airing tomorrow (Dec. 17), said network officials. 

There’s trouble in paradise on the spaceship Ascension. Except it isn’t.

Ascension definitely isn’t paradise. We learn that within minutes of the opening episode of this three-night original drama (the only one reviewed). Instead, we hear from a beautiful young woman’s recorded testimony, Ascension is a trap. Fifty years into a multigenerational voyage of 600 souls headed toward a prospective new planetary home for humanity, young people are restless and disillusioned. Their parents signed on for this top-secret mission during the Kennedy administration, and the kids may or may not be alive when it all ends.

Civilization aboard Ascension is stratified. Upper deckers, nearer the astral observation areas, are the elite, while lower deckers, down in the water reclamation zone, are a caste below them. Crime is occurring. Betrayals are happening. Conspiracies are cooking.

It’s an intriguing concept: 1960s rocket and computer technology actually being capable of launching and sustaining a century-long flight between the stars. Back on Earth, at least one enterprising researcher believes he knows what’s happening, that the Ascension launch, long considered a mad scientist’s crazy dream, really took place, and wants to get the story out. But could the government really pull this off, in secret?

Something’s definitely happening on board the Ascension but it’s not necessarily what it appears to be.

The acting is solid and Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer is a welcome reminder of the space drama grandeur that once ruled on Syfy. The sets and computer-generated architecture are cool. I’m not sure it’s all pulled off in a fully compelling way, but that might change when I see where it all lands.

(Note: this review was published in Multichannel News with the incorrect air date. Ascension airs Dec. 15-17.)

Syfy has added Brian Van Holt to the cast of its six hour space mystery Ascension. The actor, known for his recurring role on Cougar Town, will portray ship captain William Denniger. 

The network previously announced that Tricia Helfer would have a role in the series, and the actress will portray Denniger’s wife Viondra. 

The series was created and written by Philip Levens, who will also serve as executive producer and showrunner. Production is set to take place in Montreal, with an expected air date in November 2014.