Events and Conferences

Data broker presentation at CFP conference

Data brokers -- WPF will be speaking at the CFP conference on two panels. On June 15, Pam Dixon will participate in a plenary session on data brokers. On June 16, Dixon will moderate a health care privacy panel. This panel will focus on electronic health care in the state of California and the current privacy issues in electronic health exchange.

WPF votes on key California medical privacy guidelines

California health privacy -- The World Privacy Forum, as co-chair of the California Privacy and Security Advisory Board, was pleased to vote on an opt-in privacy standard for Californians in the June CalPSAB board meeting. The standard will be part of a set of guidelines the state of California uses in its development of electronic health care records. This set of guidelines was the culmination of two years of policy work with the CalPSAB board.

WPF files comments for FTC Roundtables on privacy standards, consumer expectations of privacy

FTC Privacy Roundtable -- The World Privacy Forum filed comments last week for the FTC Privacy Roundtables, the first of which will be held December 7, 2009. The WPF comments urged the FTC to consider the Fair Credit Reporting Act as a key privacy model to apply to additional areas, to use the full version of Fair Information Practices, and discussed how a rights-based framework was the key to advancing consumers' interests. The comments discussed list brokers at length, and explained how even the most informationally cautious consumer will land on numerous marketing lists and databases. The WPF comments noted that not all marketing lists are used to target ads to consumers; some lists and databases are used to deny consumers goods and services. The comments contain a detailed section on privacy frameworks, a section on direct marketing, and an appendix with supporting information.

World Privacy Forum Announces IPSC2008 Conference in Tokyo, Japan

IPSC2008 Conference -- The World Privacy Forum is co-hosting the first International Privacy and Security Conference 2008 (IPSC2008), to be held in Tokyo, Japan on November 11-12, 2008. Also co-hosting the conference are the Japan-based Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE), Social Implications of Technology and Information Ethics, and the Japan Society of Security Management. This conference brings together Japan's leading privacy and security experts and scholars as well as experts from the US and the EU.

News Release and Event Announcement: International Privacy and Security Conference 2008

This conference is convened for the purpose of gaining a deepened mutual understanding of privacy and security approaches cross-culturally, with the conference providing an international forum for discussing and understanding the different concepts of privacy and security in the US, Asia, and the EU. Through sharing of current practices and ideas, the participants will explore possible bridges between what these concepts mean in different countries both now and looking to the future as well.

Council for Responsible Genetics convenes experts and the public for database and genetics conference

Genetic privacy -- The World Privacy Forum participated in a Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG) conference on genetic databases at New York University. The groundbreaking conference focused on key issues of race and genetic databases, fairness, accuracy, and privacy. The World Privacy Forum discussed a paper by Dr. Harry G. Levine, Drug Arrests and DNA, noting that innocent victims of medical identity theft may be arrested for the "drug seeking behavior" of the criminals impersonating them.

World Privacy Forum to speak at Federal Trade Commission health workshop

Health Care Innovations workshop -- The World Privacy Forum will be speaking at an upcoming FTC workshop on the topics of medical identity theft, personal health records, and direct-to-consumer genetic tests and marketing. The workshop is April 24, 2008. Workshop information is available at the FTC web site.

World Privacy Forum appointed to California Security and Privacy Advisory Board

Announcement | CalPSAB -- WPF executive director Pam Dixon has been appointed by California Secretary of Health and Human Services Kim Belshe to the California Security and Privacy Advisory Board. Dixon will serve as interim co-chair of the board, which is tasked with addressing health information exchange (HIE) privacy and security efforts in California. The board's meetings will be open to the public.

Pam Dixon's keynote speech on medical identity theft at the AHIMA National Convention

Medical identity theft is a crime that harms people and it is a crime that hides itself. This combination makes medical identity theft an insidious crime. It can cause extraordinary damages and harms to its individual and institutional victims. And once begun, the harmful effects of this crime can linger in the lives of its victims for years or even decades.