Just got this via e-mail:
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PRIVACY NEWS UPDATE
Last chance to block the government's raid on
your medical records -- including your DNA!
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You are receiving this update because you registered at
http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com, the site that was instrumental
in killing the FDIC's Know Your Customer regulation in 1999. We
are writing to notify you that this is your *LAST CHANCE* to
stop the new HHS "medical privacy rule," which would allow the
government to seize control over your private medical records
and transfer them to other parties. However, if you do not want
to receive further updates, please use the unsubscribe directions
at the end of this message.
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Only three days left to kill
Federal anti-privacy regulation
Dear Privacy Advocate:
We have an urgent request: Please pick up the
phone and call Congress today, or the fight for medical
privacy could be lost. That is because the Health and
Human Services regulation that turns your medical data
over to the government will go into effect permanently --
unless Congress passes HJR 38 by Friday, June 15.
Please read this short memo, immediately take the
action at the bottom, then forward it to others who might
be interested.
BACKGROUND:
On April 14, President Bush quietly directed
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to
impose the so-called "medical privacy regulations" that
were originally developed by the Clinton administration.
Bush's maneuver came despite the fact that the HHS had
been inundated with nearly 100,000 angry letters and
e-mails from Americans around the country.
The most dangerous aspect of this regulation --
and the one most overlooked in news reports -- is that
for the first time the government, rather than patients
and doctors, would be in complete control of your
private medical records. That's because the regulation
forces doctors and hospitals to share all electronic
medical records with the government for a variety of
vague purposes, such as to "streamline medical billing
procedures" or for "public health surveillance." Then the
government, rather than individual patients, will decide
who gets to see them.