2501B - networks V ? privacy and e-health II

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2501B



Some bloggers have expressed concerns about health information that is uploaded to Google, a company which has not rated very well for privacy in the past. As Google is not a health care provider it does not fall under the US federal law that establishes data confidentiality standards for patient health information. Google goes to great lengths to compare their privacy policy favourably to that of the federal law yet it has not managed to convince everyone that it is a safe and secure option.


One worry is that the information could possibly be used in the future for targeted advertisements by commercial operators such as pharmaceutical companies (currently Google Health does not have advertisements). Another is that health insurance companies might attempt to get their hands on this information by offering cheaper premiums to clients who voluntarily allow access to their medical data. If this idea (of being able to save money through giving up a level of privacy) diffuses through a social network, an insurer could potentially gather vast quantities of data which might later be used to charge higher rates to a certain sub-group of the population.


An alternative solution, with a greater emphasis on privacy, stores personal medical data online without linking it to a name or email address, just an ID number.








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