HIE stands for “Health Information Exchange.” We encourage all patients to request a copy of their medical records to check for errors, whether in paper or digital format. Begin any process of HIE discovery with your health care provider. It will likely be your health care providers who are able to let you know if your records have been exchanged, and if so, where.

Big Data and its potential for inclusion and exclusion was on center stage this past September as the FTC held a day-long workshop with experts from industry, technology, privacy, civil liberties, and academia. World Privacy Forum’s Executive Director Pam Dixon, a panelist at the event, spoke about Big Data and privacy, emphasizing several key points, including the need for statistical parity, fairness, and the need for keeping existing consumer protection regulation.

The US Department of Energy has released its draft Voluntary Code of Conduct for the smart grid. The draft code is open for comments from the public. WPF encourages all who have an interest in smart grid privacy to submit comments. What: Smart Grid voluntary code of conduct is open for public comment Who: Department

Medical identity theft happens when another person uses your identity to acquire medical goods or services. The problem is that when this occurs, the imposter’s medical treatment gets put into your medical files. If your imposter has a different medical condition than you do, then your medical file can contain errors. It is important to correct errors in your medical file that occur as a result of medical identity theft. One of the potential challenges with exchanging your medical records in a health information exchange is that if medical identity theft happens, the erroneous file can be spread far afield through the HIE. Here’s how to begin approaching the challenges.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 10, 2014 San Diego — The World Privacy Forum is urging parents and college students to exercise their right to “opt out” of schools sharing their personal directory information with third parties. “The beginning of the school year is a key time when the school information opt-out period opens up,” explained