Thomas F. Harrison reports: A man who was careless with his privacy settings and accepted an anonymous “friend request” from someone who turned out to be an undercover cop became the unlikely catalyst Monday for a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision that expands the privacy rights of social media users. Writing for the unanimous court,…
Category: U.S.
Power in Data: Value Against Privacy
Matt Fisher writes: ….. A recent expose from Stat News on the MarketScan database is throwing more light onto the issue. Reading the full article is highly recommended. For a brief summary though, the database began to be compiled in the early 1980s with the aim of giving companies more insight into healthcare use to enable…
Colorado to Adopt Privacy Act Regulations in 2023
Odia Kagan of FoxRothschild writes: In prepared remarks last week, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser explained the expected rulemaking process for the state’s new privacy act. Here is how it should work: Q2 2022: Public consultation: “Over the next few months, we look forward to hearing from Colorado consumers, businesses, and other stakeholders. During this…
How a decades-old database became a hugely profitable dossier on the health of 270 million Americans
Casey Ross reports: To most Americans, the name MarketScan means nothing. But most Americans mean everything to MarketScan. As a repository of sensitive patient information, the company’s databases churn silently behind the scenes of their medical care, scooping up their most guarded secrets: the diseases they have, the drugs they’re taking, the places their bodies…