Dan Goodin of The Register reports: A Romanian man has been sentenced to serve more than four years in US prison for taking part in a sophisticated phishing scam that cost financial institutions at least $150,000. Ovidiu-Ionut Nicola-Roman, 23, of Craiova, Romania, received 50 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release….
Octuplets hospital workers fired
Fifteen hospital workers have been fired for improperly accessing the medical records of octuplets mother Nadya Suleman, officials have said. Eight other staff at the [Kaiser Permanente Bellflower] hospital near Los Angeles were disciplined for looking at the records without permission, the hospital said. Read more on BBC
NEW: Patient's Guide to HIPAA
From the good folks over at World Privacy Forum: The Patient’s Guide to HIPAA is the first comprehensive guide to medical privacy written expressly for patients with a practical eye as to how to use the law to protect privacy. It is a major privacy resource for patients, written directly and without legalese. The Patient’s…
Georgia Legislature goes after your right to privacy
Jason Pye writes: At some point today, the Georgia Senate will consider HB 614, the “Georgia Prescription Monitoring Program Act,” which would establish a state surveillance system for the monitoring of prescribing and dispensing of certain medications (Schedules II, III, IV, or V). Included in the database would be most pain relievers, anxiety medications, sleep…
On the menu: stealing your details
Freeman Klopott reports: Wait staff at several Washington-area high-end restaurants stole credit card numbers from customers and ran up a $750,000 tab at stores like Gucci and Barney’s of New York, federal authorities said in court documents. […] The customers victimized at the District’s M&S Grill, 701 Restaurant, Clyde’s of Gallery Place and Bowie’s Carrabba’s…
UK: Patients’ GP notes found in car
Shaun Lowthorpe reports that medical notes about 37 terminally ill patients were found abandoned in a used car owned by Philip Smith, a GP at the Beccles Medical Centre. NHS Yarmouth and Waveney is now investigating.