After dangling the promise of a 'life saving' Facebook announcement, earlier this week we learned that the behemoth social media site is now offering a place on each person's timeline to show their organ donor status. The announcement was met with great kudos from various media outlets as well as reportedly increased interest in organ donor inquiries and enrollments. At first glance, it looks like a benevolent move - but further thought leaves me bothered and disturbed.
First off, I wonder why we haven't heard a loud-resounding roar of objection from the privacy advocates. Though I don't expect anybody to object to the efforts to raise organ donor awareness, the Health and Wellness area of a user's timeline encourages people to divulge health information of a much more private nature. The additional sections that are available for completion are:
- Overcame an Illness
- Quit a Habit
- New Eating Habits
- Weight Loss
- Glasses, Contacts, Other
- Broken Bone
- Other Life Event
Completing any one of these sections moves Facebook's actions far from the realm of benevolence. To locate the section go to your profile page, click on the Life Event listed in the same box as Status, Photo, and Place. Clicking on the Health & Wellness tab will open to the individual topics listed above.
Health care privacy is a very serious issue. All medical providers and insurers are bound by law to retain indvidual's health information in a secure manner allowing access to the protected health information (PHI) only upon the patient's informed consent to release it or for treatment, payment and operations (TPO). It's all laid out in the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act) and a myriad of state laws.
Why is patient privacy protection so important? Very simply, people will be comfortable seeking treatment when they are confident their information will not be used maliciously against them. With the high cost of employer-sponsored health care plans these days, consider how difficult it could be to get a job if you have a chronic disease like diabetes. Do you suppose a mortgage company may find health information useful in determining it's risk in underwriting a 30 year loan if you have a history of heart disease?
At this time there is no Federal or State law that extends patient privacy protections to social media sites - particularly when the patient posts the information themselves. Facebook is under no obligation to protect the information and already offers only dubious levels of privacy on non-sensitive matters. The possibilities of what Facebook and other parties could do with the information is both staggering and disturbing. Join me in objection by refusing to complete any part of the Health and Wellness section.
As for the organ donor awareness initiative - that's all it is. A marketing effort to raise awareness, and while sharing your donor status on your timeline might be good for awareness, it in itself will do nothing to deliver on Facebook's supposed mission to save lives.
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Creepy, as usual. I think I will be using this tool to report "life events" though -- things such as stubbed toes, snack consumption (what I had and the quantity), bad hair days, and the days I decide to finally vaccuum around here.
ReplyDeleteAnd a bit off topic but I'm still wondering why I haven't automatically been switched over to that new Time Line thing. My page is still set up the old fashioned way. I'm sure Facebook will probably catch up with that soon enough and fine me or something.
Thanks for the comments Diane. I like your angle to fill in the areas with complete baloney...but then again, you do a good job of thinking for yourself. I really am concerned about all the people who willingly go down the path anybody leads them on. It's 'simply nuts'! Kudos to you if you don't have the timeline yet...I'm not a fan of it.
DeleteHi Jean, I am sure the two of us could have an interesting conversation on this subject matter! I applaud your effort to bring privacy to the forefront of this conversation. I question the validity of comparison to HIPPA and patient privacy. Is your angle on this about facebook being intrusive into the health plight of its users or is it more so aligned with the information being used maliciously by companies you may do business with i.e. the mortgage company or health insurance you mention?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments Amy! The only correlation I'm trying to make to HIPAA is the fact that the law regulates how providers and insurers handle protected health information, providing some level of security for patients. Facebook is not in the business of protecting privacy...if they were they wouldn't keep encouraging people to continually divulge more and more information. Once the information is shared on such a public forum, it is my concern that it could then be easily accessed by potential employers and mortgage companies.
DeleteHow do you feel about this new Health & Wellness initiative Amy? I'm really interested in a discussion - thanks!
Jean, thank you for posting this!! I had NO idea!! I wonder...what's next? I would never make public such sensitive matters about myself. I don't mind sharing joy at a weight loss, but I think what they are doing is going too far.
ReplyDeleteI must admit my curiosity is getting the best of me as to why Facebook is looking to collect this level of information. Just thinking about what they could potentially do with it bothers me. Are they going to sell it for marketing purposes? Are they going into medical research? It's one thing to ask people where they live, work and go to school...but asking for private health information seems way out of line. Unfortunately, some people won't recognize the harm until they experience it after the fact. Thanks for commenting April.
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