When you consider the vast pool of personal health information that exists in electronic health record databases as well as the growing number of registries (both public and private) a large number of unanswered questions exist as to just what people, as patients and stakeholders, should accept as the “rules” surrounding such data.

The subject of medical research and personal information protection can quickly become a quagmire. Even raising the subject risks one being tagged as a Grinch-like character who surely must drown kittens and tell those young cancer-stricken children appearing in telethons that there’s no Santa Claus. The win-win scenario is de-identified information with good security around […]

Research, in whatever field of endeavour, is considered to have a useful societal purpose. But, in the case of people using networks, at what point does it cross the line into violations of personal privacy? According to this press report last week, Pete Warden has amassed details on 215 million profiles on Facebook and plans […]