Bernadine Healy, M.D. had a commentary in USA Today a few days ago that reiterates some of the concerns privacy advocates have raised. It’s interesting to see how many people from different fields have all cited the Alex Rodriguez case as an example of where someone’s privacy was violated with significant consequences: Look at Alex…
Author: Dissent
MD: Identity Transplant
Chris Landers reports: Bill Wall is a large man with close-cropped hair and the bearing of a military man, which he is–a major in the Army’s 729th Brigade Support Battalion. His wife Deborah is tiny, blond, and full of an energy that belies the fact that for more than 10 years she has been suffering…
NM: Laptop with personal data taken from food pantry
An Albuquerque food pantry is warning its clients that tens of thousands of them are at risk for identity theft after a laptop computer containing their personal information was stolen last week. The Rio Grande Food Project says the computer contained sensitive personal data — including addresses, birth dates and Social Security numbers — of…
NY: Detailed medical records turn up online
Cathleen F. Crowley reports: Alice Fisk searched Google hoping to find condolence messages written on memorial sites for her daughter, who died in September from complications of diabetes. Instead of condolences, Fisk found a medical report about her daughter’s visit to a bone doctor. […] Records of more than 1,000 patient visits to Northeast Orthopaedics,…
CO: City worker accused of stealing fellow employees’ identities
A Denver city worker will be formally charged this week with 18 counts of identity theft and nine counts of criminal impersonation. Ray Taylor, 36, is also facing one count of theft. The Denver District Attorney’s office says Taylor used the names, birth dates and other personal information of others, including current and former Denver…
Alberta to share medical information with foreign governments (commentary)
A concerned reader from Canada sent me this commentary with permission to post it: Alberta¹’s legislature has introduced amendments to the Public Health Act that allow the province’s Chief Medical Officer to release personal medical information to the government of a foreign country or an agency of any of those governments for a range of…