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Privacynotes Digest
Security Protecting Privacy is Good for Business
This Issue Is Brought To You By WAIM Shape our Future! http://www.waim.org/conferences.html
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Published by: Mike Banks Valentine Privacynotes privacy@privacynotes.com
www.privacynotes.com
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September 5, 2002 Issue # 024
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2nd Annual Meeting for The World Association of Internet Marketing
Join your fellow internet marketers on September 18-19th to
discuss our industry. Goals are to develop standards for the Internet
Marketing industry, a code of conduct, and to establish relationships
with relevant organizations. This year's theme is to establish
"A Partnership between Internet Marketers and Search Engines".
Confirmed participants are: *Overture *MP3.Com *Espotting *ICANN
*Open Directory *Friends Reunited *BT /LookSmart *Rugged Handheld
*GoodJet.Com
.. and more to follow.
For information and booking, please visit http://www.waim.org/conferences.html
This year's location: Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh, Scotland
Join WAIM - Shape our Future!
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.....IN THIS DIGEST.....
// -- MODERATOR COMMENT -- //
"HealthPrivacy Project Update" ~ Mike Banks Valentine
// --CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- //
"Snooping Eula" ~ Ian O'Neill
"Technical Malfunctions" ~ Bob Hoffman ~ Moderator Comment
// -- PRIVACY NEWS -- //
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// -- MODERATOR COMMENT -- //
==> TOPIC: HEALTHPRIVACY PROJECT UPDATE
Health Privacy and financial privacy [See financial privacy
related news item at bottom] are two of the most hotly debated
topics within the increasingly complex penumbra of a large privacy
umbrella.
I'm taking the opportunity this week to post a notice just received
from the Health Privacy Project of the Institute for Health Care
Research and Policy in Washington. I highly recommend their "Health
Privacy 101" PDF download library at:
http://www.healthprivacy.org/info-url_nocat2302/info-url_nocat.htm
Privacy issues online will only get more confusing and complicated
as more aspects of our lives move online and become widely accessible
to hackers through breaches in security, as well as through plain
sloppiness and a poor understanding of the value and volatility
of Personally Identifiable Information [PII].
Privacy breakdowns have affected huge swaths of the public through
corporate slip-ups and plain ignorance.
It's great to have a watchdog group like the HealthPrivacy Project
looking after our collective interests.
===> HealthPrivacy Project notice follows <===
Today, the Health Privacy Project released revised summaries
of the health privacy statutes of seven states: Louisiana, Mississippi,
New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Dakota.
In addition, the Pennsylvania summary has been updated to incorporate
changes in copying costs for medical records.
The updated state summaries reflect changes in state health
privacy statutes that have been made since our original report,
The State of Health Privacy: An Uneven Terrain (A Comprehensive
Survey of State Health Privacy Statutes), was published in 1999.
The 1999 report will be available on the Project's Web site until
October 1, 2002.
It is important to note that these are summaries of state statutes.
In general, we did not research or include regulations or common
law, both of which ultimately must be understood in order to appreciate
the full range of protections at the state level. The summaries
focus predominantly on the use and disclosure of information gathered
and shared in the context of providing and paying for health care.
Furthermore, we have not analyzed how these state laws will interact
with the federal health privacy rule issued by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.
We are extremely grateful to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
for supporting this initiative.
The updated state summaries are available at the Health Privacy
Project Web site at www.healthprivacy.org
// -- CONTINUING DISCUSSION -- //
===> TOPIC: SNOOPING EULA
From: Ian O'Neill
Lynn Bernstein said >> Has everyone seen the new EULA
[END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT] from Microsoft? <<
The increasing number of viruses on the Net and the escalating
anxiety of software and content producers now precipitating more
militant responses to the open and unrestricted nature of the
Internet, it is very evident to me that my computer connection
to the outside world is an important Ôpersonal frontierÕ, a relationship
with the world at the heart of which lies some key issues pertaining
to personal freedom. Sooner or later we will have to defend our
right to own and manage our own computer memories and operating
systems.
Ian O'Neill
===> TOPIC: TECHNICAL MALFUNCTIONS
From: Bob Hoffmann
Mike Valentine wrote: >> The hotel, in a resort area,
likes to believe that EVERYONE that stays in their little burg
wants to be out of touch with the world while there. <<
Yup, there are indeed establishments that cater to that mentality.
It is your responsibility as the guest to investigate all "necessary"
amenities. I've gone hiking into remote canyons for days at a
time to escape all connection to the outside world--elsewhere,
with the world is so connected, I couldn't consider it a vacation!
Web Coordinator, Information Department Cooperative Extension,
Washington State University http://caheinfo.wsu.edu/webtips/
[ Moderator Comment ]: I know this thought will jar some less
tech friendly list members, but I expect that with satellite access
to the web, even remote wilderness areas will soon be web accessible
and you'll find hikers with their PDA's and Video enabled Cell
phones and Blackberry's accessing their office email, sending
notes to client's and checking in on the kids while they are trekking
through scenic backwoods.
Those intrepid souls would not be there in many cases if they
could NOT do those things. All we need do is to disable the beeping
so it doesn't disturb the peace of the wilderness and get loud,
boisterous talkers to keep it quiet.
I want the choice to have that access everywhere I go and I
believe there are increasing numbers of tech-sector professionals
that would agree with me. I strongly believe that the great value
in this proposition outweighs the need to escape those amenities.
Just as phones are now available everywhere, so too will web
access be ubiquitous. I can't wait!
Mike Valentine
// -- PRIVACY NEWS -- //
Moderator note: There are two ways to access previously listed
privacy news stories. One is to visit Privacynotes archives, the
other (simpler) way is to visit
http://privacynotes.com/privacy_news.html
where I also keep a privacy news archive.
Bring out the ballot-initiative petitions. Financial privacy
is going nowhere in California without direct voter action. You
may live and vote in California, but the Legislature does not
work for you. It works for all the financial institutions launching
an apparently limitless supply of legislative torpedoes to sink
privacy protections that Californians, like other Americans, overwhelmingly
desire. State Sen. Jackie Speier, the San Mateo Democrat whose
pro-privacy bill died in the last hours before the Legislature
adjourned for the year Saturday, says she's going to try again
next year. She shouldn't bother.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?N5CF21FA1
Eager to head off criticism from privacy advocates and users
over the expanded surveillance provisions in its forthcoming National
Strategy for Securing Cyberspace, the Bush administration is expected
to recommend appointing a federal "privacy czar" to act as watchdog.
Chief among the czar's duties would be to vet all government data
gathering and security initiatives for potential privacy problems,
according to a draft of the plan.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,503728,00.asp
Are privacy policy notifications on Web sites and via snail
mail enough to solve the privacy problem? Or are these first steps
raising even more questions and concerns for business partners,
consumers, and employees? If you think your company has done its
privacy duty just by posting its policies, you may be in for a
rude awakening.
http://www.techweb.com/tech/security/20020828_security
