James Mayse reports for the Messenger-Inquirer: The names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth of thousands of people who visited the Green River District Health Department were available unsecured online for months, at least since October. But the company maintaining the computer database fixed the problem immediately Wednesday evening after being notified by the…
Author: Dissent
Second Circuit limits the right to medical privacy
We normally associate the constitutional right to privacy with abortion and other child-bearing and (and related) concepts. But that right also covers the right to avoid disclosure of certain personal matters, including medical information. This case asks whether a New York City schoolteacher could sue the Board of Education for publicizing her fibromyalgia. The answer…
Your personal data in the wrong hands
Fabio Assolini of Kaspersky writes: What happens when all of your personal data is readily available for use by a cybercriminal? Last November we published a blog talking about Brazilian phishing attacks that displayed the victims’ CPF numbers – the Natural Persons Register, the equivalent of a Social Security Number used by the Brazilian government to…
Attorney General Bill Schuette should push for medical marijuana patients' privacy in federal investigation, attorney says
John Agar reports: The attorney for medical-marijuana advocates said state Attorney General Bill Schuette, a critic of the state’s medical-marijuana law, should fight a federal request for patients’ confidential records. The federal government filed a court request to enforce its subpoena for information. In a court filing this week, Schuette said the state Department of…
NL: Patients to get more control of their medical records
DutchNews.nl reports: Patients are to get the right to decide who should have access to their confidential medical details when they are stored in a central data bank, health minister Edith Schippers is set to announce on Thursday. The minister also wants patients to be automatically sent an email or mobile phone text message if…
UK: Not breach of rights to force doctor to disclose patient records
Matt Donmall reports: A Swedish professor has failed in his European Court of Human Rights challenge to his conviction for disobeying a court order to hand over sensitive information in medical research, despite having promised the participants that the information would be for his use alone. As reported in a past blog, the fact of their…