01 August 2022

F*c*book Doesn't Believe in Privacy

They certainly don't respect privacy laws. Meta, US hospitals sued for using healthcare data to target ads

The law they are (or were) ignoring is Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996’s (“HIPAA”) Privacy Rule.

A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Northern District of California against Meta (Facebook), the UCSF Medical Center, and the Dignity Health Medical Foundation, alleging that the organizations are unlawfully collecting sensitive healthcare data about patients for targeted advertising.

This tracking and data collection allegedly takes place in medical portals beyond login walls, where patients enter highly sensitive information about themselves, their conditions, doctors, prescribed medication, and more.

According to the lawsuit, neither the hospitals nor Meta informs the patients about the data collection, no user consents are requested, and there is no visible indication of this process.

The plaintiffs realized the violation of their privacy when Facebook, the social media platform belonging to Meta, began targeting them with advertisements tailored explicitly for their medical condition.

Click thru for the details. There are likely 26 million patients who have had their privacy compromised in some way.

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