Don Thompson of the Associated Press reports that Jerry Van Le has been accused of using stolen Social Security numbers from about 25 people to make purchases and then selling the personal information to over 2,000 other individuals in a multimillion-dollar identity theft ring. Le reportedly used his role as a mortgage broker to obtain…
Author: Dissent
AU: Outlaw genetic snoops (commentary)
Robyn Riley writes: I can understand the companies want a detailed health history before agreeing to issue cover. That’s business. But delving into a person’s genetic make-up is an abuse of technology and, worse, a Big Brother-type invasion of privacy. And yet it is already happening. According to a study published in Genetics in Medicine,…
AU: Patients’ medical records leaked online by pathology lab Sullivan Nicolaides
Anna Caldwell and David Earley report: An alarming privacy breach by one of Queensland’s biggest pathology labs has released patient medical histories on the internet. The names, contact numbers and private details of at least 100 patients, and potentially hundreds more, were plastered on the website of Brisbane-based Sullivan Nicolaides. Read more on news.com.au Update…
NH Prescription Privacy Law At High Court
Two companies that collect, analyze and sell prescription information are mounting a Supreme Court challenge to New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation law making doctors’ prescription writing habits confidential. In an appeal filed Friday, IMS Health Inc., of Norwalk, Conn.; and Verispan LLC, of Yardley, Pa., are telling the high court that the law violates their First Amendment…
ACU says computer server hacked
Brian Bethel reports: An Abilene Christian University computer server was hacked near the end of February, but university officials do not at this point believe any personal information was distributed. An e-mail dated one week ago from the college’s information technology branch states that the school experienced a security breach in a database containing myACU…
Prescription Drug Records at Risk
Former presidential candidate Bob Barr writes: My home state of Georgia may soon join those states that have enacted “Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs,†thereby making individual citizen’s prescription records subject to easier state and federal government snooping. Already nearly three dozen states have such programs in place, a primary reason for which is to receive…