Employees in the Redford Union School District noticed a problem Tuesday with a mailing they received telling them about a new dental coverage plan. The envelopes that contained the information had the employees’ social security numbers listed on the address labels, where the zip codes should have been…. The district said the dental coverage carrier,…
Author: Dissent
NZ: Insurers risking breaking privacy law, says privacy commissioner
Amiri Halberg reports: A report by the privacy commissioner released today says that insurers, by asking full patient notes, have been risking breaking privacy law. Investigations held by Marie Shroff have discovered that insurers have been crossing limits in requesting full medical notes going back a number of years, when insuring people or paying out…
UK: Amending the law on the DNA database needs proper scrutiny
From a commentary by David Pannick, QC: Last December the European Court of Human Rights decided in S and Marper v The United Kingdom that the retention by the State of DNA profiles is a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. That is because information about people arrested for, or…
NA: HIV Testing Controversy
Wezi Tjaronda reports: The Legal Assistance Centre is taking a medical doctor and a lodge owner to court for allegedly testing 22 workers of the hotel for HIV without their consent in what could be the largest and maybe the first case in Namibia concerning non-consensual HIV testing. The 22 workers want to hold Dr Gerhard…
PA Legislator’s Laptop Stolen from Car
A Pennsylvania state representative had his state-issued laptop stolen from his car over the past weekend. But State Rep. Frank Dermody may not be particularly concerned because, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the legislator said no sensitive state data were on it. Nothing “sensitive,” but an “undetermined number of e-mails from constituents” were on the…
Ohio Supreme Court Protects The Privacy Of Medical Records In Abortion Case
From the ACLU: The Ohio Supreme Court today moved to protect the privacy of minors’ medical records when the minor is not a party in a lawsuit. The case involves a lawsuit against an Ohio Planned Parenthood and attempts by a teenager’s parents to obtain the medical records not only of their own daughter…