An HIV/AIDS advocacy group has condemned Taiwanese government workers after several of them shared private information about the HIV statuses of citizens drafted into the military.
After government officials alerted the parents of a man who was drafted that he was HIV-positive, his father kicked him out of the house, Chang Cheng-hsueh of Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association of Taiwan told the Central News Agency. A letter containing the information about the man, who goes by the name Hsiao Pan, was accompanied by implicit instructions to keep the information confidential. However, officials ignored the instructions, and relayed the information to Hsiao Pan’s father.
Read more on HIVPlusMag.com
This is exactly the kind of privacy breach that can have devastating impact. I hope the government takes strong action and makes it clear that such willful breaches will not be tolerated at all.