Maria Will knows to be careful on the internet, especially with private information like bank account and Social Security numbers. “Anybody can put an address in and pull up anything,” said Will. But she didn’t realize some of that protected information can be found on a government website. In at least one case, there was…
Author: Dissent
Stolen Tulane laptop had W-2 info, S.S. numbers of each employee
A Tulane University-owned laptop was stolen last year that had a file containing private information of each person employed at the university in the past year, according to school officials. The computer had W-2 information, names, Social Security numbers, address and salary for every employee, including student and part-time employees and anyone who will receive…
Ca: Woman awaits landmark ruling on sperm-donor identities
Petti Fong reports: For all of her life, Olivia Pratten has known only the barest details about her biological father. Born in 1981 after her mother visited a fertility specialist in Vancouver, she has been told only that her father is Caucasian and was a medical student at the time of donation. Genetically, all she…
Supreme Court grants review of Sorrell v. IMS Health
SCOTUSblog reports that the Supreme Court granted review today in a case that asks whether states can enact laws to protect prescription data from commercial access: The prescription records case, Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., et al. (10-779) is an appeal by Vermont state officials seeking to revive a state law that restricted commercial access…
AU: Transparency call on privacy: patient records
Karen Dearne reports: Australians will finally have a chance to shape the nation’s $467 million electronic health record system. Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has agreed to release confidential plans for widespread debate. The Labor government’s “personally controlled” approach to a nationwide system of sharing patients’ medical records has caused much confusion since it was…
AU: Couple fighting govt over right to choose sex of their next child
Shelley Hadfield reports on a case that raises significant ethics and privacy questions: A couple so desperate for a baby girl that they terminated twin boys are fighting to choose the sex of their next child. The couple, who have three sons and still grieve for a daughter they lost soon after birth, are going…