Should all sensitive data be treated the same?

Erica Newland writes:

There was a discussion over on ReadWriteWeb yesterday about whether location information should be given the same privacy protections as medical data. The blog post made reference to the recent testimony of CDT General Counsel John Morris on location privacy but challenged his assertion that “[protecting location information] will require location be treated as sensitive data, like medical data. You’ll need to do more than just post a disclosure statement.”

While we are happy to see a spirited debate about the privacy concerns raised by location information, it is important to keep in mind that treating both location information and medical information “as sensitive data” does not translate into a prescription for the exact same protections for these two very different data types. Location information is sensitive but it is sensitive in different ways than medical data; location information deserves special protections, but different protections than medical data does.