It's an interesting but not impossible problem.
Access to records you did not create should require some
authorization, such as a simple referral (top down) or a request and
approval (bottom up). Authorized access to a patient database should
not grant automatic access to every patient.
In November 2013, I blogged about the case of a
privacy breach at Northern Inyo Hospital that was so
devastating
to the patient that she was going to move away. The breach was a
willful insider breach that impacted a custody dispute.
That same year, and unbeknownst to most people,
there was a lawsuit filed over another insider breach that similarly
devastated the patient involved. This one involved the Ronald
Reagan UCLA Medical Center and an employee of OB/GYN Dr.
John Edwards accessing the system’s database and then disseminating
sensitive information about an employee-patient, Norma Lozano. Dr.
Edwards is affiliated with UCLA, but Ms Lozano was not his patient
and there was no reason for anyone in his office to access her
records. According to media reports, an unnamed temporary employee
of Dr. Edwards, allegedly accessed Lozano’s medical records in
September 2012, made copies with her cell phone and sent them to
Lozano’s former boyfriend — the father of Lozano’s then unborn
child — and another person.
Lozano sued UCLA, and her case made it to court
this past week. You can read a recap of the case on Patch,
MyNewsLA.
It is not clear to me whether this incident was
ever reported to the California Department of Public Health and of
so, what action the CDPH took in response. What is disturbing is
that in its defense, UCLA claims the responsibility lies with Dr.
Edwards for providing his password to his temporary employee.
But does it? While I agree that Dr. Edwards had
an obligation to train his employees and establish access controls
and monitor his employees’ conduct, shouldn’t the hospital,
recognizing the risk of snooping and inappropriate access, have done
more to prevent such situations? Should only celebrities have higher
levels of data protection? I don’t think so.
It is not clear to me why Dr. Edwards was dropped
from the case as a defendant, and why the unnamed employee was not
also sued, but I hope
everyone takes note that a major hospital system seems to be saying
that it’s not their responsibility to protect you from improper
access to your records from employees of its affiliated doctors.
Think about whether that is a satisfactory
situation.
Drones for everyone but us second class citizens?
Weaponized
Drones May Fly the Friendly Skies of North Dakota
"It's a terrible idea to arm drones, even
with so-called nonlethal weapons, which really should be called 'less
lethal' weapons," said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at
ACLU, who noted that Taser shocks "kill roughly one person a
week." Arming drones "would make it too easy to use force
-- and when things get too
easy, they tend to get overused."
… The new law gives police the authority in a
roundabout way: Section 5 states a law enforcement agency may not
authorize the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle armed with lethal
weapons.
(Related) Stop worrying about drones, there's an
App for that! (And everyone always follows the rules)
FAA Starts
Beta Testing App That Tells Drone Pilots Where They Are Allowed To
Fly
Earlier this year, the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that it would soon start
beta testing an
app that would help drone flyers understand where they can and —
more importantly — can’t fly. Today, the FAA announced
a few more details about the app and launched the first beta version
of the aptly named B4UFLY
app for iOS.
Sadly, though, this is still a private beta test
that will likely run for two
months. For now, the app will be iOS-only, with an Android
version to follow at an unspecified date.
It looks like the private beta is currently
oversubscribed, but you can still get on the waiting list by emailing
b4ufly@faa.gov to request an invite.
(Related) But in case that doesn't work... I
don't suppose I can buy one of these? Will we see them at every
airport, forest fire, prison and nudist colony in America?
Boeing’s
Portable, Tripod-Mounted Compact Laser Weapons System Can Roast
Drones In Mere Seconds
… Over the past few years, it's become clear
that many people don't understand proper etiquette when it comes to
flying their drones.
…
But, with Boeing's laser system
on-hand, any threat will be dramatically reduced. While max range
isn't given, Boeing says that if
you can spot a drone with a pair of binoculars, its system will have
no problem striking the target – with a deviation of up
to 2 inches depending on the movement speed of the drone.
Boeing touts this system as being very low cost,
especially with regards to maintenance. The main moving part is what
rotates the unit before it fires; there's no traditional ammunition
used here, so there's only electricity to worry about. If the fact
of what this is capable of isn't cool enough, note the fact that a
human operator first lines up the the target with an Xbox
360 controller. Afterwards, the laser system takes over and
fires the fatal shot.
A backgrounder for my IT Governance students.
4 Tips for
Successful BYOA Governance
The "app culture" era is upon us,
transforming the way we work, play, learn and live. At work,
employees increasingly use their own third-party productivity
applications to improve productivity and access cloud-stored data in
a trend called bring-your-own-app (BYOA). A boon for worker
productivity, the trend is a governance nightmare for IT leaders.
Fortunately, there are concrete ways that
organizations can work better with employees to provide them with the
flexibility to use their own applications while protecting the firm
against security risks.
Who'd a thunk it?
Generation
LOL Irked By Grammar Slip-Ups
New York — It’s the LOL generation that
appears most annoyed by bad grammar and spelling slips, according to
a survey by Dictionary.com.
The site found in an online Harris Poll done July
31 to Aug. 4 that 80 percent of American adults 18 and older consider
themselves good spellers, but they may be overestimating their
abilities.
The survey of 2,052 people showed 71 percent
responded that they often find spelling mistakes in correspondence
from others.
Among respondents 18 to 34, 74 percent said they
were irked by such slips on social media — more than any other age
group.
… Across all age groups, 59 percent said
improper grammar is their biggest beef when it comes to the English
language.
Women notice grammar and spelling mistakes more
than men, with 75 percent saying they often find errors in the
writing of others. That’s compared to 66 percent of men who spot
errors, according to the survey.
Just in case this is correct, my niece and nephew
are getting calligraphy sets for Christmas.
How The
Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
… Given the amount of time I spend on
computers, it would be easy for an opinionated observer to count my
handwriting as another victim of computer technology. But I knew
script, I used it throughout high school, and I shifted away from it
during the time when I was writing most.
My experience with fountain pens suggests a new
answer. Perhaps it’s not digital technology that hindered my
handwriting, but the technology that I was holding as I put pen to
paper. Fountain pens want to connect letters. Ballpoint pens
need to be convinced to write, need to be pushed into the paper
rather than merely touch it.
What other industry provides this much humor each
week?
Hack
Education Weekly News
… Via
the LA School Report: “LA Unified said today its inspector
general is ‘looking into’ the possibility that nearly 100
district employees used district email addresses to contact
ashleymadison.com,
a website that promotes extra-marital affairs, calling itself ‘the
most famous name in infidelity and married dating.’”
… “The New York City charter school that
made the largest gains on state English tests also made an
unprecedented decision to grade its own students’ exams,”
Chalkbeat
reports.
… The University of Maryland University
College says it will be textbook-free
by the fall of 2016.
… Via
Boing Boing: “Cute Wonder Woman lunchbox banned from school for
being too violent.” [Clearly
we have become a nation of sheep, more concerned with political
correctness that reality. Bob]
… “Buzzwords May Be Stifling Teaching
Innovation at Colleges,” says
The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Jeffrey Young.
No comments:
Post a Comment