The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts

Stephen McGibbon — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:36:00 GMT

These famous words, written some 230 years ago by Edmund Burke ("Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol", 1777), came to mind today when I saw this Guardian Online story ... From cradle to grave, your files available to a cast of thousands.

The Guardian's leader column titled Spine-chilling concludes "The case for efficiency is strong, but not at any cost. Privacy matters too". There's no technical reason that I can see why the NHS system has to be so disrespectful of privacy. It's simply a question of policy, however public sector technology policy is often a matter of politics, and political expediency.

Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge University, has an interesting suggestion - What can patients do? I wonder how many Guardian readers will take his advice. As Burke also famously noted "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Doctors and the BMA recognise the need for patient consent and are asking for it. Ironically the BBC reports today that doctors are the most trusted profession. The BBC didn't make the connection with the Spine - but it seems clear that this could/will damage patients' trust in their doctors through no fault of the profession.

Things don't seem to be any better on the other side of the pond. The Red Tape Chronicles, a blog over on MSNBC yesterday asked Health Care Privacy Law: All Bark, No Bite? noting that there have been 22,664 HIPAA privacy-related complaints filed since the privacy rule took effect in 2004, and not a single institution has been fined for privacy lapses.

Qudos to the Guardian for picking up the issue today.

Notes2Self.net : Health, Privacy

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts