Dan McCue reports on a case in Illinois: Surrogate parents of newborn triplets claim a hospital and major media outlets violated medical privacy laws and subjected them to “humiliation, embarrassment and emotional distress” by publishing photos and stories about their newborns. The parents say they never gave Advocate Christ Medical Center permission to release personal…
Author: Dissent
Sensors and In-Home Collection of Health Data: A Privacy by Design Approach
From the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario’s web site: In-home health care monitoring devices are gaining in prominence. Technological improvements in networking, wireless communications, and the miniaturization of electronics have resulted in a suite of emerging technologies that rely on the collection of information from within the home, from an individual’s body, or both….
DE: State’s benefits consultant posts retirees’ sensitive info on Web
J. L. Miller reports: Aon Consulting, the state’s benefits consultant, accidentally posted the Social Security numbers, gender and dates of birth for about 22,000 retired state workers on the web two weeks ago, state officials and the company said today. The information was part of a request for proposals that AON had supplied to the…
Last of identity theft/credit card scammers in Russian scheme is sentenced
John Agar reports the follow-up on an ID theft ring linked to Russia (previous coverage here): The last of five suspects sentenced in a credit-card scheme linked to Russia was ordered Monday to spend three years in federal prison. Ameer Spinks, 25, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell. The judge also ordered…
Article: Waiving Your Privacy Goodbye: Privacy Waivers and the HITECH Act’s Regulated Price for Sale of Health Data to Researchers
Barbara J. Evans of the University of Houston Law Center has uploaded a working paper to SSRN, “Waiving Your Privacy Goodbye: Privacy Waivers and the HITECH Act’s Regulated Price for Sale of Health Data to Researchers.” The abstract is: How much should an insurer or healthcare provider be able to charge when selling people’s personal…
MI: Condo Residents Victims Of Identity Theft
Residents living at a local apartment complex find themselves the victims of a nationwide identity theft scam. Many of the victims lost thousands of dollars before police froze their accounts. Police said a dozen residents of a Saline condo community, the Rolling Meadows Townhomes, have become victims of identity theft. Management sent out a warning…