...The Privacy Act is a general prohibition, subject to
narrow exceptions, on disclosure of records between agencies or to the
public. The “routine use” exception allows disclosure when the use of a
record is “for a purpose which is compatible with the purpose for which
it is collected.” Privacy being essential to patient care, it is
impossible to justify a “routine use” exception for a system knowingly
built in a way that will permit disclosure of intimate health care
data.
In this regard, the administration is not only preparing
to violate the law, it is also holding itself to a far lower privacy
standard than that to which it is trying to hold the private sector. In
announcing the administration’s “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,” last
year President Obama himself said, “American consumers can’t wait any
longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal
information is safe online.”
A June Government Accountability Office (GAO) report
gingerly avoided all the significant privacy and operational issues
surrounding the HHS system, and did little more than report that CMS
admitted it was behind on certain parts of the program but felt it could
catch up. Nowhere did our congressional watchdogs show any sign that
they had actually tested the system and considered its readiness for
public use.
HHS: your more friendly NSA!
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