Privacy SIG: Privacy of sensitive information and public health

Data privacy can have profound impacts on public health. Protecting vulnerable individuals from profiling and discrimination, supporting equal access to resources, matching those in need with available services, or protecting vulnerable groups from predatory advertisements are some of the important areas. Emerging privacy regulations shape how businesses collect, process, and exchange consumer data. Most of these efforts are focused on data that are collected outside of healthcare since health records are considered to be sufficiently protected by HIPAA. However, health or health-related information is usually subject to an all-or-nothing approach. Some information is subject to additional layers of protection (e.g., substance use disorder or mental health data) while others are not subject to any protection at all (e.g., user-created lifestyle or wearable data). I will discuss some of the important challenges and promising approaches.