Ranadive, Vivek. "The Five Forces Shaping the 21st Century." Forbes, November 27, 2012.
The 21st century didn’t start in the year 2000. It started in 2010, the same way the 20th century began in 1908 with the advent of the automobile. It became the century of highways and freeways, the century of the auto—the American century. Similarly, if you look at what happened a couple of years ago, there were all kinds of crossover points that happened around the same time: more cell phones than landlines, more laptops than desktops, more debit cards than credit cards, more farmed fish than wild fish, more girls in college than boys.
I am dedicated to the belief that if you get the right information to the right place at the right time and in the right context, you can make the world a better place. This is something I call the two-second advantage. In order to achieve that, you need to understand five forces shaping the 21st century.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Building an Iconography for Digital Privacy
Sengupta, Somini. "Building an Iconography for Digital Privacy." The New York Times, November 19, 2012.
Web site privacy policies are usually long, vague and notoriously neglected by most of us. Or as Alex Fowler, chief privacy officer at Mozilla, put it, “We have long upheld that privacy policies suck.”
Now, an experiment is under way to make those privacy policies somewhat more palatable. The idea is to have lawyers and coders muddle through thousands of words of legalese and distill their meaning into a set of graphic icons. In effect, the pros will read those notoriously unreadable policies, so the rest of us don’t have to.
Web site privacy policies are usually long, vague and notoriously neglected by most of us. Or as Alex Fowler, chief privacy officer at Mozilla, put it, “We have long upheld that privacy policies suck.”
Now, an experiment is under way to make those privacy policies somewhat more palatable. The idea is to have lawyers and coders muddle through thousands of words of legalese and distill their meaning into a set of graphic icons. In effect, the pros will read those notoriously unreadable policies, so the rest of us don’t have to.
Labels:
privacy,
transparency
You Got a Better Idea?
Koppell, Jonathan. "You Got a Better Idea?". Slate, November 28, 2012.
There’s an old saw about the weather: “Everyone complains about it, but no one ever does anything about it.” The same might be said about the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.
The U.S. government created ICANN in 1998 to oversee the coordination and management of the Domain Name System, which basically means that it coordinates the unique identifiers of every Web-connected device on the planet. Today, ICANN is most well-known for its rulemaking around website names. For the past 14 years, it has weathered volley after volley of criticisms (not to mention lawsuits) by an eclectic group of individuals, nation states, NGOs, companies, and global governance bodies for a laundry list of perceived ills, shortcomings, and outright failures. It has been criticized for imposing U.S. values, lacking foresight, and being the catspaw of special interest groups. At the same time, it has been criticized in the halls of the U.S.Congress, its ostensible master, for pursuing paths that were at odds with American interests. It has been taken to task by its own directors, critical of the changing rules by which the organization runs and a lack of transparency in its activities.
There’s an old saw about the weather: “Everyone complains about it, but no one ever does anything about it.” The same might be said about the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.
The U.S. government created ICANN in 1998 to oversee the coordination and management of the Domain Name System, which basically means that it coordinates the unique identifiers of every Web-connected device on the planet. Today, ICANN is most well-known for its rulemaking around website names. For the past 14 years, it has weathered volley after volley of criticisms (not to mention lawsuits) by an eclectic group of individuals, nation states, NGOs, companies, and global governance bodies for a laundry list of perceived ills, shortcomings, and outright failures. It has been criticized for imposing U.S. values, lacking foresight, and being the catspaw of special interest groups. At the same time, it has been criticized in the halls of the U.S.Congress, its ostensible master, for pursuing paths that were at odds with American interests. It has been taken to task by its own directors, critical of the changing rules by which the organization runs and a lack of transparency in its activities.
Labels:
internet governance,
point of view
ICANN, Make a Difference
Meinrath, Sarah and Elliot Noss. "ICANN, Make a Difference." Slate, November 27, 2012.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is little known, but it wields a tremendous amount of power: It controls all of the Web’s top-level domains (those letters after the “dot,” like .com and .org). Currently, ICANN is in the midst of creating hundreds (and possibly thousands) of new, generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that span a host of different ideas, from .web to .cars to .anything_else_you_can_imagine. These new gTLDs have the potential to dramatically affect the future of Internet browsing, and they’re already stirring up some serious discussion. (Saudi Arabia, for one, doesn’t want .gay, .bible, or other dozens of other proposed domains to be approved.) But the auction process to distribute them also has the potential for even greater impact than currently envisioned.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is little known, but it wields a tremendous amount of power: It controls all of the Web’s top-level domains (those letters after the “dot,” like .com and .org). Currently, ICANN is in the midst of creating hundreds (and possibly thousands) of new, generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that span a host of different ideas, from .web to .cars to .anything_else_you_can_imagine. These new gTLDs have the potential to dramatically affect the future of Internet browsing, and they’re already stirring up some serious discussion. (Saudi Arabia, for one, doesn’t want .gay, .bible, or other dozens of other proposed domains to be approved.) But the auction process to distribute them also has the potential for even greater impact than currently envisioned.
Labels:
internet governance,
point of view
‘Do Not Track’ Internet privacy initiative struggles to keep momentum
Timberg, Craig. "‘Do Not Track’ Internet privacy initiative struggles to keep momentum." The Wall Street Journal, November 28, 2012.
The two-year-old drive to give consumers a simple way to block companies from tracking their behavior as they move across the Internet has faltered, say participants in the process who are struggling to reconcile privacy concerns with an advertising model that pays for many free Internet services…
Industry groups voluntarily adopted a version last year giving consumers the ability to block advertising based on their Web browsing history. Officials from the Digital Advertising Alliance, which organized the effort, said that nearly 20 million users have visited the site at youradchoices.com and that more than 1 million have chosen to opt out of ad tracking.
But privacy advocates have called this system hard to use and too permissive in the information it allows marketers to collect.
The two-year-old drive to give consumers a simple way to block companies from tracking their behavior as they move across the Internet has faltered, say participants in the process who are struggling to reconcile privacy concerns with an advertising model that pays for many free Internet services…
Industry groups voluntarily adopted a version last year giving consumers the ability to block advertising based on their Web browsing history. Officials from the Digital Advertising Alliance, which organized the effort, said that nearly 20 million users have visited the site at youradchoices.com and that more than 1 million have chosen to opt out of ad tracking.
But privacy advocates have called this system hard to use and too permissive in the information it allows marketers to collect.
Labels:
privacy
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
HHS Publishes Guidance on How to De-Identify Protected Health Information
From the article: "On November 26, 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of
Civil Rights (“OCR”) published guidance on the
two methods for de-identifying protected health information (“PHI”) in
accordance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule. The guidance, which was required by the
Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Health (“HITECH”) Act,
has been developed over several years by OCR in collaboration with healthcare
entities and other industry experts and builds upon the discussions from a
workshop on de-identification that took place in March 2010.
The guidance covers three main topics: (1) key terms in the HIPAA Privacy
Rule, (2) the statistical expert method for de-identifying PHI, and (3) the
safe harbor method for de-identifying PHI." Read more
See also
Labels:
health IT,
HIPAA,
medical records,
privacy
Integrity of Internet Is Crux of Global Conference
From the article: "A commercial and ideological clash is set for next week,
when representatives of more than 190 governments, along with
telecommunications companies and Internet groups, gather in Dubai for
a once-in-a-generation meeting. The subject: Control of the
Internet, politically and commercially.
More energy is expected to be spent on how companies make
money off the Internet. In one submission to the conference, the European
Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association, a lobbying group based in
Brussels that represents companies like France Télécom, Deutsche Telekom and
Telecom Italia, proposed that network operators be permitted to assess charges
for content providers like Internet video companies that use a lot of
bandwidth.
Analysts say the proposal is an acknowledgment by
European telecommunications companies that they cannot hope to provide digital
content. “The telecoms realize that they have lost the battle,” said Paul
Budde, an independent telecommunications analyst in Australia. “They are
saying, ‘We can’t beat the Googles and the Facebooks, so let’s try to charge
them.’” Read more
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Patients Want Granular Privacy Control Over Health Information in Electronic Medical Records
Labels:
information sharing,
medical records,
privacy,
reports
Cell Phone Activities 2012
From the report: "Fully 85% of American adults own a cell phone and now use the
devices to do much more than make phone calls. Cell phones have become a portal
for an ever-growing list of activities. In nationally representative phone
surveys in the spring and summer, the Pew Research Center’s Internet &
American Life Project obtained readings on some of the most popular activities
including: 1) Taking pictures (82%), 2) Sending/receiving texts (80%), 3)
Accessing the Internet (56%), and 4) Sending/receiving e-mail (50%)." Read more
The Gathering Storm: WCIT and the Global Regulation of the Internet
From the report: "At the upcoming International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai, to be
held from December 3-14, delegates will consider proposals to amend the
International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs,) binding rules that govern
telecommunications network practices around the world…. If any change needs to
be made at all in the ITRs with respect to the Internet, it should be limited
to creating a firewall between the authority of ITU and the operation of the
Internet. The Internet’s organic governance system has proved to be quite
effective, in no small part due to its close proximity to the Internet’s
technical standards and business practices.
Technologies that enable rapid
rates of change need the ability to adapt to changing conditions quickly; an
international treaty organization that convenes once every fifteen years does
not fit the bill. The ITU is facing obsolescence as we begin to retire the
telephone networks that have been its sole focus since the phase-out of the
telegraph, but this existential crisis does not justify a wholesale
restructuring of Internet governance." Read more
Health Care System To Benefit From Recent HIE Progress
From the article: "The stars
seem to be aligned for rapid progress in health information exchange. We are
fast approaching a point in the development of the Health Internet where ubiquitous exchange of health data to improve care coordination and
health care quality and ultimately lower costs might be possible. We still face
some problems, and standards and policies must be aligned, but there is some
great synergy in play that will help drive this vision forward. There are a
variety of different initiatives which are coalescing, but there is also a
great deal of work still left to do." Read more
Monday, November 26, 2012
Global Internet User Survey Reveals Attitudes, Usage, and Behavior
From the report: "A worldwide survey of more than 10,000 Internet users in 20
countries conducted by the Internet Society revealed attitudes towards the
Internet and user behavior online. The Global Internet User Survey is one of
the broadest surveys of Internet user attitudes on key issues facing the
Internet. This year's survey covered areas such as how users manage personal
information online, attitudes toward the Internet and human rights, censorship,
and the potential for the Internet to address issues such as economic
development and education.
Key findings
from this year's survey cover a broad range of topics.
The Internet and Human Rights:
- Eighty-three percent of respondents
agreed or agreed strongly that access to the Internet should be considered
a basic human right.
- Eighty-nine percent agreed or
agreed strongly that Internet access allows freedom of expression on all
subjects, and 86 percent agreed or agreed strongly that freedom of
expression should be guaranteed.
- Sixty percent of respondents agreed
or agreed strongly that Internet access has contributed significantly to
civil action and political awareness in their country." Read more
The Impact of Electronic Patient Portals on Patient Care: A Systematic Review of Controlled Trials
From the report: "Modern information technology is
changing and provides new challenges to health care. The emergence of the
Internet and the electronic health record (EHR) has brought new opportunities
for patients to play a more active role in his/her care. Although in many
countries patients have the right to access their clinical information, access
to clinical records electronically is not common. Patient portals consist of
provider-tethered applications that allow patients to electronically access
health information that are documented and managed by a health care
institution. Although patient portals are already being implemented, it is still
unclear in which ways these technologies can influence patient care." Read more
Labels:
Health care,
health IT,
medical records,
reports
Avoiding a Data Divide Between the US and the EU
The US and the EU ultimately share the same goals – to protect privacy and facilitate trade and economic growth." Read more
Labels:
economic growth,
Europe,
open data,
point of view,
privacy,
trade
The U.N.'s Internet Sneak Attack
From the article: "Who runs the Internet? For now, the answer remains no one, or at least no
government, which explains the Web's success as a new technology. But as of
next week, unless the U.S. gets serious, the answer could be the United
Nations.
Many of the U.N.'s 193 member states oppose the open, uncontrolled nature of
the Internet. Its interconnected global networks ignore national boundaries,
making it hard for governments to censor or tax. And so, to send the
freewheeling digital world back to the state control of the analog era, China,
Russia, Iran and Arab countries are trying to hijack a U.N. agency that has
nothing to do with the Internet." Read more
Mobile Phones—Especially 3G Ones—Make Economies Grow Faster
Snow, Jackie. "Mobile Phones—Especially 3G Ones—Make Economies Grow Faster." Quartz, November 25, 2012.
From the article: "Now there is evidence that improving mobile Internet access
helps economies too. A recent study
examined the effect of faster 3G wireless data connections replacing slower 2G
ones. The study by the GSM Association mobile trade group, Deloitte and Cisco,
looked at 96 developed and developing markets from 2008 to 2011. When a market
experienced a 10% shift from 2G to 3G, GDP per capita growth increased by an
average of 0.15 percentage points. A separate look into 14 countries between
2005 to 2010 found that a doubling of mobile data use led to an increase of 0.5
percentage points in per capita growth." Read more
See also
Labels:
economic growth,
impact of tech,
mobile technology,
stats
European Parliament Warns Against UN Internet Control
"European Parliament Warns Against UN Internet Control." BBC, November 22, 2012.
From the article: "Members of the European Parliament backed a resolution which urged
member states to reject changes to the International Telecommunication
Regulations (ITR) which would "negatively impact the internet, its
architecture, operations, content and security, business relations, internet
governance and the free flow of information online"…. The European
Parliament's objection follows loud opposition from search giant Google, which
has invited concerned internet users to sign a petition.
"The International Telecommunication Union is bringing together regulators from around the world to renegotiate a decades-old communications treaty," the company wrote." Read more
"The International Telecommunication Union is bringing together regulators from around the world to renegotiate a decades-old communications treaty," the company wrote." Read more
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Why Big Data Could Sink Europe’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten'
Meyer, David. "Why Big Data Could Sink Europe’s ‘Right To Be Forgotten.'" GigaOm, November 20, 2012.
From the article: "Europe’s proposed ‘right to be forgotten’
has been the subject of intense debate, with many people arguing it’s simply
not practical in the age of the internet for any data to be reliably expunged from
history.
Well, add another voice to that mix. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has published its assessment of the proposals, and the tone is sceptical to say the least. And, interestingly, one of the biggest problems ENISA has found has to do with big data." Read more
Well, add another voice to that mix. The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has published its assessment of the proposals, and the tone is sceptical to say the least. And, interestingly, one of the biggest problems ENISA has found has to do with big data." Read more
See also
Labels:
Big Data,
ENISA,
internet governance,
privacy
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Willing to Pay for Quality Personalization? Trade-Off between Quality and Privacy
From the report: "Online
personalization presents recommendations of products and services based on
customers’ past online purchases or browsing behavior. Personalization
applications reduce information overload and provide value-added services.
However, their adoption is hindered by customers’ concerns about information
privacy. This paper reports on research undertaken to determine whether a
high-quality recommendation service will encourage customers to use online
personalization. We collected data through a series of online experiments to
examine the impacts of privacy and quality on personalization usage and on
users’ willingness to pay and to disclose information when using news and
financial services." Read more
Labels:
digital economy,
privacy,
reports
Who Are the Doctors Most Trusted by Doctors? Big Data Can Tell You.
Labels:
Big Data,
Health care,
health IT,
information sharing
Privacy and Security Aspects of Social Media: Institutional and Technological Environment
From the report: "Legitimate
as well as illegitimate organizations and entities are gaining access to
information about social media (SM) users through illegal, extralegal, and
quasi-legal means. Worse still, many organizations and individuals using SM
have become targets and victims of cybercrimes. SM have also led to an exposure
of unethical and illegal conducts within some organizations. One estimate
suggested that 36% of social networking users have reported experiencing
malware attacks through their profiles. Another study suggested that one in
four companies have become cybercrime victims via social networking sites.
Likewise, about a quarter of employers surveyed by the Society of Corporate
Compliance and Ethics in 2009 had disciplined an employee for improper activities
on social networking sites. Organizations that fail to take appropriate
technological and behavioral measures related to SM are likely to suffer
reputation damages, loss of customers' confidence, and other types of economic
losses. The goal of this paper is to develop a framework that provides a
simple, explicit mechanism for understanding privacy and security issues
associated with SM." Read more
Labels:
cyber security,
privacy,
reports,
social media
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Teens and Venture Investors Demand Online Safety and Privacy
Kolodny, Lora. "Teens and Venture Investors Demand Online Safety and Privacy." Wall Street Journal, November 14, 2012.
From the article: A new study from the Family Online Safety Institute, a nonprofit on a mission to “make the online world safe for kids and families,” found that teens are not only more connected than ever, increasingly using mobile devices and social networks, but they understand privacy and safety issues in a way that previous generations didn’t.
In addition, FOSI and venture investors say they are focused on ensuring that entrepreneurs consider safety and privacy issues and plan for them from the start when developing a business. Read more
See also
From the article: A new study from the Family Online Safety Institute, a nonprofit on a mission to “make the online world safe for kids and families,” found that teens are not only more connected than ever, increasingly using mobile devices and social networks, but they understand privacy and safety issues in a way that previous generations didn’t.
In addition, FOSI and venture investors say they are focused on ensuring that entrepreneurs consider safety and privacy issues and plan for them from the start when developing a business. Read more
See also
Labels:
data security,
privacy,
reports,
research,
social media
A Survey of Primary Care Doctors in Ten Countries Shows Progress in Use of Health Information Technology, Less in Other Areas
Schoen, Cathy, et al. "A Survey of Primary Care Doctors in Ten Countries Shows Progress in Use of Health Information Technology, Less in Other Areas." The Common Wealth Fund, November 15, 2012.
From the article:
From the article:
- Two-thirds (69%) of U.S. primary care physicians reported using EMRs in 2012, up from less than half (46%) in 2009. Both U.S. and Canadian doctors expanded their use of health information technology (HIT), though the two countries lag the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia in EMRs and use of HIT to perform a range of functions, like generating patient information or ordering diagnostic tests.
- In the U.S.—the only country in the survey without universal health coverage—59 percent of physicians said their patients often have trouble paying for care. Far fewer physicians in Norway (4%), the U.K. (13%), Switzerland (16%), Germany (21%), and Australia (25%) reported affordability was a concern for their patients.
- More than half (52%) of U.S. doctors said they or their staff spend too much time dealing with insurers’ restrictions on covered treatments or medications—by far the highest rate in the survey. Read more
Labels:
EHR,
health IT,
medical records,
stats,
survey
The Right to Be Forgotten in the Internet Era
Graux, Hans, Jef Ausloos and Peggy Valcke. "The Right to Be Forgotten in the Internet Era." ICRI Research Paper No. 11, November 12, 2012.
From the report: Especially after its appearance in the European Commission's recent proposal for a new Data Protection Regulation, the 'right to be forgotten' has provoked quite some criticism. Much of the opponents, however, seem uninformed on the actual scope and meaning of the proposed provision. Additionally, the concept is often confused with the much older 'droit a l'oubli', which finds its rationale in the protection of privacy as a fundamental human right. This text starts by giving an overview of the more traditional droit a l'oubli and how it is applied throughout Europe. Subsequently, the more modern 'right to be forgotten' is analyzed from a normative, market, technological and legal perspective. Finally, this text makes a thorough and critical analysis of the current proposal. Despite its laudable goal, some deficiencies should be resolved. But, in general, the right seems to restore the power balance by giving (back) effective control to individuals over their personal data. Read more
From the report: Especially after its appearance in the European Commission's recent proposal for a new Data Protection Regulation, the 'right to be forgotten' has provoked quite some criticism. Much of the opponents, however, seem uninformed on the actual scope and meaning of the proposed provision. Additionally, the concept is often confused with the much older 'droit a l'oubli', which finds its rationale in the protection of privacy as a fundamental human right. This text starts by giving an overview of the more traditional droit a l'oubli and how it is applied throughout Europe. Subsequently, the more modern 'right to be forgotten' is analyzed from a normative, market, technological and legal perspective. Finally, this text makes a thorough and critical analysis of the current proposal. Despite its laudable goal, some deficiencies should be resolved. But, in general, the right seems to restore the power balance by giving (back) effective control to individuals over their personal data. Read more
Labels:
Europe,
impact of tech,
privacy,
reports
The Making of a (Big Data) President
Hurwitz, Judith. "The Making of a (Big Data) President." Bloomberg Businessweek, November 14, 2012.
From the article: For the first time in presidential politics, there is a considerable focus on the role that large amounts of data played in the course of the campaign. Technology has always been important for any political campaign, but in this presidential election, both campaigns attempted to use Big Data analytics as a strategic weapon. There were some important lessons to learn from how the data were used—and misused. Read more
From the article: For the first time in presidential politics, there is a considerable focus on the role that large amounts of data played in the course of the campaign. Technology has always been important for any political campaign, but in this presidential election, both campaigns attempted to use Big Data analytics as a strategic weapon. There were some important lessons to learn from how the data were used—and misused. Read more
Labels:
Big Data,
point of view,
Presidential Election
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Reed Hundt and Blair Levin: For a Politics of Abundance, Growth First
From the article: "After the election, Washington, D.C., has the same power
structure, but a very different strategic situation. Because existing law
raises taxes and cuts spending at the beginning of 2013, the Republican House
must compromise with both the Democratic Senate and re-elected President Barack
Obama on the budget. No one can prize gridlock above agreement.
Potential technological abundance can give the United States both a high and rising standard of living and a rapid reduction in dependence on carbon-intense energy uses." Read more
Global Information Society Watch 2012: The Internet and Corruption.
Finlay, Alan, ed. "Global Information Society Watch 2012: The Internet and Corruption." Association for Progressive Communications and the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries, 2012.
From the report: "In an era of reciprocal accountability we are all inclined to fear omnipresent observation – not the divine judgement of the second millennium, but rather the constant, networked, live-streamed observation of the third millennium. It sounds exhausting, and often is, but if we aspire to our better selves, if we are tolerant of those who are different, if we always grant the benefit of doubt when lacking sufficient context, then reciprocal accountability might grant us all greater freedom and prosperity." Read more
Airbnb: Our Guests Stay Longer And Spend More Than Hotel Guests, Contributing $56M To The San Francisco Economy
Lawler, Ryan. "Airbnb: Our Guests Stay Longer And Spend More Than Hotel Guests, Contributing $56M To The San Francisco Economy." Tech Crunch, November 9, 2012.
From the article: "According to research conducted by real estate and economic development consulting firm HR&A Advisors, Airbnb guests helped contribute $56 million in total economic activity to the San Francisco economy from June 2011 to May 2012, the vast majority of which was unrelated to the money they spent on lodging. Airbnb guests spent $12.7 million in lodging during that time, but spent an additional $43.1 million while staying in town." Read more
Labels:
economic growth,
reports,
trends
Government Transparency and Secrecy: An Examination of Meaning and Its Use in the Executive Branch
From the report: "This
report subsequently examines the statutes, initiatives, requirements, and other
actions that make
information more available to the public or protect it from public release. It
also examines transparency
and secrecy from the standpoint of how the public accesses government information,
and whether the release of government data and information may make operation
of the
federal government more or, counter-intuitively, less transparent. Finally,
this report analyzes whether existing transparency initiatives
are effective in reaching their stated goals." Read more
Labels:
information infrastructure,
open data,
reports,
transparency
Many Health Apps Are Based on Flimsy Science at Best, and They Often Do Not Work
From the article: "When the iTunes store began offering apps that used cellphone
light to cure acne, federal investigators knew that hucksters had found a new
spot in cyberspace….
Since then, the Food and Drug Administration has been mired
in a debate over how to oversee these high-tech products, and government
officials have not pursued any other app developers for making medically
dubious claims. Now, both the iTunes store and the Google Play store are
riddled with health apps that experts say do not work and in some cases could
even endanger people." Read more
Labels:
health,
health IT,
mobile apps
Hospitals Use Patient Data to Target Ads
Sutherly, Ben. "Hospitals Use Patient Data to Target Ads." The Columbus Dispatch, November 12, 2012.
OhioHealth and Mount Carmel Health System routinely mine health data from their patients’ records to decide who should receive certain mailings. The approach — sometimes called “ customer-relationship management” — has been used for six years by OhioHealth and two years by Mount Carmel. Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center hasn’t used it, but it plans to take another look at the tactic soon, a spokesman said." Read more
Labels:
Data Mining,
Health care,
medical records,
privacy
More Companies Are Tracking Online Data, Study Finds
The Berkeley project, called the “Web Privacy Census,” aims to measure online privacy by conducting periodic web crawls and comparing the number of cookies and other types of tracking technology found over time on the most visited sites." Read more
See also
Labels:
Internet Infrastructure,
privacy,
research
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Despite ONC's Effort, Comparing PHR Privacy Policies Still Challenging
From the article: "To date, personal health record adoption has been somewhat limited, but the
market is expected to get a big boost from Stage 2 of the meaningful use
incentive program.
Deven McGraw -- director of the Health Privacy Project at the Center for
Democracy & Technology -- said, "The market for those tools has been a
little soft I think because people have really had to hand enter in the data or
scan [them] in, as opposed to being able to feed [the information] directly
from a provider's electronic health record, unless they happen to be a patient
at Kaiser or part of a system that already offers them that tool."
However, she said, "That's going to change in 2014 when a lot of the early
adopters in the HITECH incentive program begin Stage 2 and start actively
encouraging patients to view and potentially download and transmit their
data."
But is the industry ready when it comes to privacy and security regulations?" Read more
Labels:
health IT,
medical records,
point of view,
privacy
Established Democracies, Internet Censorship and the Social Media Test
From the report: "Social media can test how firmly entrenched Internet freedom
is in established democracies through a comparison with countries with an
authoritarian track record. The method is to evaluate the use of social media
in recent protests in a sample of established democracies and authoritarian
regimes, and to compare differences and similarities in government responses." Read more
How ‘Social Intelligence’ Can Guide Decisions
From the article: "Social media should help companies overcome some limits of old-school intelligence gathering, which typically involves collecting information from a range of public and propriety sources, distilling insights using time-tested analytic methods, and creating reports for internal company “clients” often “siloed” by function or business unit.
Today, many people who have expert knowledge and shape perceptions about markets are freely exchanging data and viewpoints through social platforms. By identifying and engaging these players, employing potent Web-focused analytics to draw strategic meaning from social-media data, and channeling this information to people within the organization who need and want it, companies can develop a “social intelligence” that is forward looking, global in scope, and capable of playing out in real time." Read more
Labels:
information sharing,
point of view,
social media
Russia’s Big Leap in Internet Control
From the article: "The Russian government this month began implementing a new
Internet filtering policy, including a blacklist of banned Web sites. The
policy is supposedly about protecting Russian minors from material about
suicide, drugs or child pornography. But human rights advocates warn that the
policy is intended to silence legitimate, independent speech in one of the last
venues Russians have for it." Read more
Labels:
cyber security,
internet governance,
point of view,
privacy
Interoperability: Quick Route To Better Care
From the article: "Healthcare quality and efficiency could move forward 20
years in a matter of months if only there were true interoperability
of electronic health information, according to a noted critic of the health IT
industry.
Labels:
Health care,
health IT,
point of view
Monday, November 12, 2012
Chicago Designing Predictive Software Platform to Identify Crime Patterns
The system will allow policymakers to analyze disparate pieces of information from across agencies, including crime statistics, building and business permits, and transcripts from resident complaints, Chicago’s chief data officer, Brett Goldstein, told CIO Journal. Goldstein hopes the system, which will be available to all agencies, will help officials parse out patterns for violent crime and allow public workers to provide better services by understanding how different factors affect city life." Read more
Labels:
impact of tech,
information sharing,
security
Global Survey on Internet Privacy and Freedom of Expression
From the report: "This publication seeks to identify the relationship
between freedom of expression and Internet privacy, assessing where they
support or compete with each other in different circumstances. The book maps
out the issues in the current regulatory landscape of Internet privacy from the
viewpoint of freedom of expression. It provides an overview of legal
protection, self-regulatory guidelines, normative challenges, and case studies
relating to the topic." Read more
Labels:
freedom of expression,
internet governance,
privacy,
reports
Mobile Health Starting to Come of Age
Heussner, Ki Mae. "Mobile Health Starting to Come of Age." Washington Post, November 9, 2012.
From the article: "Mobile health is starting to come of age. In 2010, the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported that just 17 percent of cell phone owners used their devices to look up health information.
But in a study released Thursday, the organization said that figure has climbed to 31 percent.
Mobile health is unsurprisingly even more popular among smartphone users, with 52 percent saying they have consulted their gadgets with medical questions." Read more
See alsoFox, Susannah, and Maeve Duggan. Mobile Health 2012. Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project, November 8, 2012.
Labels:
Health care,
health IT,
information sharing,
reports
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Ambassador: Web Treaty Plans Pushed by Iran, China Could Lead to Censorship
From the article: "U.S. Ambassador Terry Kramer on Friday warned that countries like
China and Iran are looking to propose troublesome language for a
telecommunications treaty that could lead to online censorship and government
monitoring of Web traffic.
The countries say those proposals are intended to protect computer
networks from malicious spam and crack down on online child pornography, but
the methods they suggest to accomplish this via the treaty would allow them to
see "what information is flowing on the Internet," including what
people are doing and saying on the Web, Kramer said at an event hosted by Johns
Hopkins University's Center for Transatlantic Relations." Read more
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Despite Obama Win, Health IT Efforts Still Face Heavy Scrutiny
But those efforts will likely face increased oversight and scrutiny…" Read more
U.N. Must Lead Internet Regulation Effort
Toure, Hamadoun I. "U.N. Must Lead Internet Regulation Effort ." Wired, November 7, 2012.
From the article: "With over 90 percent of the world’s people now within reach of mobile phones, the challenge today is bringing internet access to the two-thirds of the world’s population that is still offline. This challenge is compounded by the need to ensure connectivity is affordable and safe for all.
If we can achieve this, all the world’s citizens will have the potential to access unlimited knowledge, to express themselves freely, and to contribute to and enjoy the benefits of the knowledge society.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which is the United Nations specialized agency charged with coordinating global information and communication technology (ICT) resources such as satellite slots and international wireless spectrum, will host the World Conference onInternational Telecommunications (WCIT-12) in Dubai next month ...
The conference will chart a globally agreed-upon roadmap that offers future connectivity to all, and ensures sufficient communications capacity to cope with the exponential growth in voice, video, and data. The sole focus of the event is making regulations valuable to all stakeholders, creating a robust pillar to support future growth in global communications." Read more
Labels:
global communications,
ITU,
mobile devices,
point of view
Big Bad Data: Law, Public Health, and Biomedical Databases
From the report: "The
accelerating adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems will have
profound impacts on clinical care. It will also have far-reaching implications
for public health research and surveillance, which in turn could lead to
changes in public policy, statutes, and regulations. The public health benefits
of EHR use can be significant. However, researchers and analysts who rely on EHR
data
must proceed with caution and understand the potential limitations of EHRs.
Much has been written about the risk of EHR privacy breaches. This paper focuses on a different set of concerns, those relating to data quality. EHR data can be erroneous, miscoded, fragmented, and incomplete. In addition, if causation is at issue, analysts must grapple with the complexities of causal inference. Public health findings can be tainted by the problems of selection bias, confounding bias, and measurement bias. These and other obstacles can easily lead to invalid conclusions and unsound public health policies.
The paper will highlight the public health uses of EHRs. It will also probe the shortcomings of EHR information and the challenges of collecting and analyzing it. Finally, we outline several regulatory and other interventions to address data analysis difficulties." Read more
Labels:
medical records,
population health,
privacy,
reports
2012: The First Digital Election
From the article: "2012
could well be the Twitter Election. By December, election retweets and hashtags
will inevitably feature in the postscript to this election, as tweets are by
nature terse and very quotable – easy fodder for journalists. The volume of
tweets surged from the moment Romney questioned federal funding to PBS and Big
Bird. Many of those with Twitter accounts were raised on Sesame Street. This
could be the first election where social media rather than advertising made the
difference. ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox are all using the volume of blog and tweet
activity as a real time barometer of this too-close-to-call campaign." Read more
See
also
Labels:
point of view,
Presidential Election,
social media
The Unbearable Trust of the Internet
From the report: "As
a result of the Internet's rapid growth, a number of
private sector companies have found themselves thrust from the role of scrappy
start-up to prominent global institution in a very short period of time. These
new global institutions have had to work to advance accountability and trust
without relying entirely on traditional democratic governance mechanisms
offered by national organizations. In the past several years, the private,
civil and public sectors have worked together to advance an explosion of
institutional innovations, each an experiment in building accountability
mechanisms and trust for this still-young ecosystem. For the long-term health
of the Internet,
it is imperative that these experiments continue, and that resources be poured
into making the most promising of them a success." Read more
The Two Key Investments to Build Back Better Post-Sandy
Our communications problems boil down to two central issues: Lack of capacity and lack of a safety net." Read more
Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win
From the article: "Exactly what that team of dozens of data crunchers was doing, however, was a
closely held secret. “They are our nuclear codes,” campaign spokesman Ben
LaBolt would say when asked about the efforts. Around the office, data-mining
experiments were given mysterious code names such as Narwhal and Dreamcatcher.
The team even worked at a remove from the rest of the campaign staff, setting
up shop in a windowless room at the north end of the vast headquarters office.
The “scientists” created regular briefings on their work for the President and
top aides in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, but public details were in short
supply as the campaign guarded what it believed to be its biggest institutional
advantage over Mitt Romney’s campaign: its data." Read more
Labels:
Big Data,
Data Mining,
point of view,
Presidential Election
The World Is Not Enough: Google and the Future of Augmented Reality
If you pick up a book, do you see a biography of its author, an analysis of the chemical composition of its paper, or the share price for its publisher? Do you see a list of your friends who've read it or a selection of its best passages or a map of its locations or its resale price or nothing? The problem for Google's brains, as it is for all brains, is choosing where to focus attention and computational power. As a Google-structured augmented reality comes closer to becoming a product-service combination you can buy, the particulars of how it will actually merge the offline and online are starting to matter." Read more
Labels:
emerging technology,
innovation,
point of view
Social Media and Voting
From the report: "On Election Day
2012, the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds social media to be a
significant part of the process by which voters are talking about their ballot
selections, especially younger voters:
- 22% of registered voters have let
others know how they voted on a social networking site such as Facebook or
Twitter.
Social media
platforms have also become a notable venue for people to try to convince their
friends to vote.
- 30% of registered voters have been
encouraged to vote for Democrat Barack Obama or Republican Mitt Romney by
family and friends via posts on social media such as Facebook or Twitter.
- 20% of registered voters have
encouraged others to vote by posting on a social networking site such as
Facebook or Twitter." Read more
Labels:
impact of tech,
information sharing,
social media,
stats
Let the Crowd Fix Your Product's Bugs
From the article: "I'm starting to come to the conclusion that of all the myths
businesses and their leaders tell themselves, one of the most harmful is that
they know where the expertise is. The more I learn about the results from
crowdsourcing and open innovation efforts, the more I believe that the smart
strategy is to expose your problems and challenges to as many people as
possible and let them show you what they can do. Here's my most recent example
of the power of this approach." Read more
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
CMS: $7.7 Billion in EHR Payments through September
From the article: "More than 300,000 physicians and other eligible
professionals have signed up to participate in the federal electronic
health-record system incentive payment programs, while more than 4,000
hospitals have enrolled in the Medicare EHR incentive program, the Medicaid
incentive program or both, according to the latest CMS data.
In total, $7.7 billion has been paid out in what has been estimated will be $27 billion in incentive payments through the lives of the two programs." Read more
In total, $7.7 billion has been paid out in what has been estimated will be $27 billion in incentive payments through the lives of the two programs." Read more
Labels:
Health care,
medical records,
stats
‘Do Not Track’ Effort at a Standstill
Advertisers, privacy groups and government officials came together in February to tout their agreement to give Internet users an easy way to opt out of online tracking.
But stakeholders involved in the effort are "not really any closer to an agreement" to make the feature happen, according to Mike Zaneis, general counsel of the Interactive Advertising Bureau." Read more
Labels:
cyber security,
internet governance,
privacy
Backdoors are Forever: Hacking Team and the Targeting of Dissent?
From the article: "In this report, Citizen Lab Security
Researcher Morgan Marquis-Boire describes analysis performed on malicious
software used to compromise a high profile dissident residing in the United
Arab Emirates. The findings indicate that the software is a commercial
surveillance backdoor distributed by an Italian company known as Hacking Team.
The report also describes the potential involvement of vulnerabilities sold by
the French company, VUPEN." Read more
Labels:
cyber security,
privacy,
reports
Choice-of-Law in the Internet Age – US and European Rules
Czigler, Tamas Dezso. "Choice-of-Law in the Internet Age – US and European Rules." Acta Juridica Hungarica - Hungarian Journal of Legal Studies 53 (2012): 193–203.
From the report: "With use of the Internet, a new form of contract has appeared: the electronic contract, which is concluded online. Most of these involve a relationship of two parties: a consumer who is in a relatively vulnerable position, and a business entity. There are numerous examples of such transactions: youngsters downloading music from a website and paying for it – as they would in a music store. Many physical goods can also be purchased online – e.g. even though they live in Europe, the authors of this article regularly purchase books from the US. There are numerous ways such transactions can take place: one of the most obvious ways is buying goods on Amazon or eBay, on the website of a company, or purchasing goods using e-mail communication. The article attempts to summarize the choice of law rules affecting electronic contracts in the US and in Europe – i.e. to give an overview of which country’s or state’s law would apply to a contract concluded online, what the limits are on such a transaction and which state’s laws can protect us in case of a breach." Read more
From the report: "With use of the Internet, a new form of contract has appeared: the electronic contract, which is concluded online. Most of these involve a relationship of two parties: a consumer who is in a relatively vulnerable position, and a business entity. There are numerous examples of such transactions: youngsters downloading music from a website and paying for it – as they would in a music store. Many physical goods can also be purchased online – e.g. even though they live in Europe, the authors of this article regularly purchase books from the US. There are numerous ways such transactions can take place: one of the most obvious ways is buying goods on Amazon or eBay, on the website of a company, or purchasing goods using e-mail communication. The article attempts to summarize the choice of law rules affecting electronic contracts in the US and in Europe – i.e. to give an overview of which country’s or state’s law would apply to a contract concluded online, what the limits are on such a transaction and which state’s laws can protect us in case of a breach." Read more
Labels:
digital economy,
reports,
trade
Wikis Allow Patients to Help Develop Clinical Practice Guidelines
The researchers tested their theory by developing a wiki about infertility treatment, according to the article, "Feasibility of a Wiki as a Participatory Tool for Patients in Clinical Guideline Development." Read more
Labels:
Health care,
health IT,
reports
There Goes Gravity: How Ebay Reduces Trade Costs
From the report: "This
paper compares the impact of distance, a standard proxy for trade costs, on
eBay and offline international trade flows. It considers the same set of 62
countries and the same basket of goods for both types of transactions, and
finds the effect of distance to be on average 65 percent smaller on the eBay
online platform than offline. Using interaction variables, this difference is
explained by a reduction of information and trust frictions enabled through
online technology. The analysis estimates the welfare gains from a reduction in
offline frictions to the level prevailing online at 29 percent on average.
Remote countries that are little known, with weak institutions, high levels of
income inequality, inefficient ports, and little internet
penetration benefit the most, as online markets help overcome government and
offline market failure" Read more
Labels:
digital economy,
impact of tech,
income inequality,
reports,
trade
Benefits of 4G Overstated, Says Report
The Economist Intelligence Unit will say on Tuesday that expectations of big early returns from superfast fibre and mobile broadband may be overstated, even if there is greater confidence of a beneficial longer-term impact.
….The report – Superfast
Britain? Myths and realities about the UK’s broadband future – was
sponsored by Huawei, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, and will be
presented at a conference on Tuesday attended by Ed Vaizey, communications
minister." Read more
Labels:
Broadband,
impact of tech,
reports
Showdown Set on Bid to Give UN Control of Internet
From the article: "It is expected to be the mother of all cyber diplomatic battles.
When delegates gather in Dubai in December for an obscure UN agency meeting,
fighting is expected to be intense over proposals to rewrite global telecom
rules to effectively give the United Nations control over the Internet.
Russia, China and other countries back a move to place the Internet under the authority of the International Telecommunications Union, a UN agency that sets technical standards for global phone calls.
US officials say placing the Internet under UN control would undermine the freewheeling nature of cyberspace, which promotes open commerce and free expression, and could give a green light for some countries to crack down on dissidents.
Observers say a number of authoritarian states will back the move, and that the major Western nations will oppose it, meaning the developing world could make a difference." Read more
Labels:
cyber security,
internet governance,
ITU