ONLINE PRIVACY: Health Surveys Alarm Privacy Advocates
As online health surveys become one of the most popular health features on the Internet, privacy advocates are raising concerns about the unauthorized use of patients' personal information, the Los Angeles Times reports. Such surveys, often called health calculators or health risk assessments, appeal to consumers because of the anonymity they offer. Dr. Ron Blankenbaker, who helped develop the first written health assessments 30 years ago, said, "People are more honest answering a computer than answering a doctor. Computers don't raise an eyebrow." But Andrew Shen, policy analyst for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said, "This is not like a conversation with your doctor. On the Internet, everything is recorded and stored, and you have no control over how it's used." Most health sites require users to provide a name and email address, while others request more information, including occupation, street address or income. All sites have privacy statements, but as a recent study by the California Healthcare Foundation demonstrates, "there's still no guarantee those promises are honored." The foundation's study uncovered "numerous instances" in which online health sites distributed customer information to third parties -- "in direct violation of their own stated policies." According to the report, most health sites use cookies to tag visitors, follow them on the site and collect any information they volunteer. Those customer profiles are then used to entice advertisers. And while health sites pledge to maintain high customer confidentiality, the Times reports that those promises do "not prevent banner advertisers from using cookies of their own ... Nor does it guarantee that consumer profiles will remain confidential should the health site merge or go out of business" (Carey, 7/10).
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