While a hospital storage room full of paper files may raise some very serious worries, the threat to privacy is at least limited to those who are physically there and can get into the room. With remote access from around the country and around the world, electronic data interchange might make possible multiple invasions at the same time by people scattered across the globe.
Predictor: Goldman, Janlori
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, Joe Flower explains the types of changes that could come in health care through the use of networked computing, quoting Janlori Goldman of the American Civil Liberties Union. Flower writes: ”Medical records can be revealing – with notations of electro-shock therapy, HIV status, abortions, plastic surgery, and treatments for depression, impotence, or chemical dependence. In the hands of a tabloid journalist, a political opponent, an insurance company bureaucrat, or an unfriendly employer, the bits and pieces in an ordinary medical record can be damning. Many people would be horrified at the prospect that their medical record would be digitized and made available online, and privacy advocates are already speaking up. Janlori Goldman, director of the American Civil Liberty Union’s Project on Privacy and Technology explains, ‘While a hospital storage room full of paper files may raise some very serious worries, the threat to privacy is at least limited to those who are physically there and can get into the room. With remote access from around the country and around the world, electronic data interchange might make possible multiple invasions at the same time by people scattered across the globe.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: The Other Revolution in Health Care: Leave Hillary and Bill Out of It … The Health Care System is Going to Change Drastically Over the Next Decade
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.01/healthcare_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney