Consumer Tips

Aug 15 2013

Health Information Exchanges in California

WPF’s new interactive map identifies Health Information Exchanges in California. A Health Information Exchange, or HIE, is technology that enables the electronic movement of health-related information among health care providers and others. HIEs are an increasingly popular way for hospitals, pharmacies, labs, and emergency room physicians to share patient information. HIEs can exchange records across one hospital, across multiple hospitals in a region, or across a whole state. If your health information is being shared through an HIE, your lab test results, medications, medical history, or other clinical information related to your health care may be included in the sharing. See more about HIEs and our California HIE Map here.

Jul 15 2013

World Privacy Forum’s HIE Tips, Glossary, and FAQ for Patients

This FAQ, glossary, and tipsheet about Health Information Exchanges is designed to work in tandem with our HIE map and directory of California HIEs, available here. If you have questions about HIPAA beyond those answered here, please see our extensive resource, A Patient’s Guide to HIPAA.

Jun 07 2013

News Release: Senior ID Theft is Increasing

June 07, 2013 Washington, D. C. — Pam Dixon testified at a US Federal Trade Commission workshop event regarding the challenges seniors and their caregivers have in detecting, preventing, and handling the aftermath of medical identity theft. Dixon discussed how the crime impacts seniors in larger proportions than other parts of the population, and discussed

Apr 24 2012

WPF Republishes Landmark Medical ID Theft Tips and FAQ for Consumers

Medical ID Theft — WPF has completely updated its landmark medical identity theft tips and advice for patients and consumers. “The new FAQcontains detailed advice for anyone who is a victim of medical ID theft, or is worried about becoming one,” says Pam Dixon. “The FAQ and our shorter consumer tips have been updated to reflect our most recent research.” In 2006, WPF published the first known report on medical ID theft and coined the term. Since then, WPF has been in the forefront of researching this crime and working to assist victims and those working with victims

Apr 20 2012

Consumer Tips: Medical Identity Theft- What to Do if You are a Victim (or are concerned about it)

World Privacy Forum information and materials on medical privacy topics.

New Report: Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new WPF report, “Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools.” This report sets out a definition of AI governance tools, documents why and how these tools are critically important for trustworthy AI, and where these tools are around the world. The report also documents problems in some AI governance tools themselves, and suggests pathways to improve AI governance tools and create an evaluative environment to measure their effectiveness. AI systems should not be deployed without simultaneously evaluating the potential adverse impacts of such systems and mitigating their risks, and most of the world agrees about the need to take precautions against the threats posed. The specific tools and techniques that exist to evaluate and measure AI systems for their inclusiveness, fairness, explainability, privacy, safety and other trustworthiness issues — called in the report collectively AI governance tools – can improve such issues. While some AI governance tools provide reassurance to the public and to regulators, the tools too often lack meaningful oversight and quality assessments. Incomplete or ineffective AI governance tools can create a false sense of confidence, cause unintended problems, and generally undermine the promise of AI systems. The report contains rich background details, use cases, potential solutions to the problems discussed in the report, and a global index of AI Governance Tools.
National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.