Mark Leavitt, chairman of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology, has a letter to the editor in the New York Times: Re “Privacy Issue Complicates Push to Link Medical Data†(news article, Jan. 18): Consumer groups and some members of Congress rightly express concern that President Obama’s plan to stimulate the use of information…
Author: Dissent
Men Plead Guilty In Metro Election Commission Laptop Theft
Robert Osbourne, Randall Cheek and Brent Rucker pled guilty today to the Christmas Eve 2007 theft of a laptop computer from Metro Election Commission. The laptop contained personal information on every registered voter in Davidson County. Osbourne was sentenced to three years in prison, while the other two men were sentenced to two years’ probation….
Arrests Made In Travolta Extortion Plot
Juan McCartney reports: Authorities in the Bahamas have detained an island lawmaker and a paramedic in an alleged plot to extort money from actor John Travolta after the death of his son, police said Friday. One of the suspects, ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne, was detained on Friday. Earlier, several tabloids quoted him describing efforts to…
Suspect identified in Heartland Payment Systems breach
Evan Schuman at Storefront Backtalk is reporting that the Secret Service has identified an overseas suspect in the Heartland Payment Systems breach. Evan also has some other updated info on the breach: The processor first learned of the breach (when alerted by Visa and Mastercard) in late October/early November, said Heartland spokesman Jason Maloni. Previously,…
Patient data stolen in Japan
Ten patients’ personal information has been lost after a sales vehicle containing a set of documents was stolen from a car park. Details of the physicians looking after the patients are also missing, along with the name, date of birth, age, gender, blood test data and questionnaire sheets detailing reactions to medications of the people…
WA: Bill would make prescription data private
Many patients assume their prescription history is confidential, but a loophole in a federal privacy law is letting pharmaceutical marketing companies to contact consumers with targeted, promotional campaigns. … To fight this, Rep. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle) and others have introduced House Bill 1493 to close the loophole. Advocates say the change would protect thousands of…