Medicine and Health Care The history of medicine and medical history Actuarial science Genetic determinism –Nature versus nurture

The Protection of Medical Information The legality of releasing medical records Physicians responsibility and the Hippocratic Oath Is there a need for anonymity

The Insurance Industry Power asymmetry and treatment release forms The Medical Information Bureau Physicians caught in the middle

Access to Your Own Medical Information State by state laws Adoption records

Computerized Patient Records The up side The down side

HIPAA The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 Key Provisions

Direct Marketing The case against intrusive marketing – the desire to control information about yourself The case for direct marketing – free speech, provides a service, it’s a $1T industry

The Post Office and Direct Marketing Change of address information Bulk mail

Affinity Programs and the Like Supermarket data – The Farmer Jack card Pharmaceutical data Warranty data Rebates

Noteworthy Privacy Abuse Cases Eli Lilly Lotus and Experian Double Click

Opt-in versus Opt-out What’s the difference? Who cares? Practical problems with opt-out Web pop-up example

Action against Direct Marketers Exercise anonymity Publicize and litigate Track them using seeded names Make use of current laws and advocate for new laws

Minors How are minors targeted? COPA ToySmart case

Who Owns Your Information? Considering your name as property What is property? Pros and cons of a royalty scheme for marketers using your name

The Avrahami Case Sued for using his name without prior consent (rental of subscription lists) DMA argued: 1) it’s common practice, 2) Avrahami should have opted out Case remanded to a different court – eventually dismissed because his name had been misspelled

Do You Own Your Body? Where does it begin and end? Is extracted genetic information yours? HeLa cells and Mo cells Locke’s desert/labor theory of property

The Biotech Industry Osteoporosis drug Informed consent Ethical issues

Genetic Information and Ethnicity Discrimination based on a predisposition for some medical condition associated with ethnicity Ashkenazi Jews The Iceland experiment