Attorney Eric Goldman blogs about a case where a hospital mailed a patient's diagnosis & treatment recommendations to an unrelated third party who then posted it on Facebook. The patient sued the hospital, claiming significant harm in a number of respects. The hospital got the court to dismiss the lawsuit on summary judgment. She appealed.

Read Eric's post: https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2022/11/a-hospital-mailed-a-patients-confidential-diagnosis-to-a-rando-youll-never-guess-what-happened-next-zd-v-community-health.htm

Court opinion: https://public.courts.in.gov/Decisions/api/Document/Opinion?Id=mdT1rInKknd_eHmA80B46cQiEYitQlmq-soHVRST_MlbPq2lrbOb38oQggcBHmN40

#privacy

10 state attorneys general have asked #Apple to do more to protect the #privacy of reproductive health data and the #security of app data by requiring app developers to certify to certain protections.

Signing the letter: New Jersey, California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington.

NJ's press release: https://www.njoag.gov/ag-platkin-leads-multistate-coalition-urging-apple-to-take-practical-steps-to-protect-consumers-reproductive-health-information-on-apple-app-store-in-the-wake-of-u-s-supreme-court-dobbs-deci/

Read the AGs' letter: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/2022-1121_Apple-final-signature-blocks.pdf

Some good legislative news:

The Safe Connections Act (S. 120) passed in Congress and has been sent to the President's desk for signing.

According to EFF, the bill makes it easier for survivors of domestic violence to separate their phone line from a family plan while keeping their own phone number. It also requires the FCC to create rules to protect the #privacy of the people seeking this protection.

Read more at EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/victory-congress-sends-safe-connections-act-presidents-desk

The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health alleging covert installation of a #Covid tracing app.

Google is not a defendant in the suit, but was allegedly involved:

"... DPH worked with Google to secretly install the Contact #Tracing App onto over one million #Android mobile devices... without the device owners’ knowledge or permission."

Complaint: https://nclalegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Complaint_Wright-with-Exhibit.pdf

More: https://nclalegal.org/robert-wright-and-johnny-kula-v-massachusetts-department-of-public-health-et-al/

#consent #surveillance #tracking

ICYMI: #Disney has angered some subscribers to its #DisneyPlus streaming service by telling users that they have to hand over their date of birth and confirm their gender to continue using the service.

https://reclaimthenet.org/disney-plus-demands-users-age-and-gender/

#TargetedAds