Journal article
DATA MINING AND SUBSTANDARD MEDICAL PRACTICE: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIVACY, SECRETS AND HIDDEN DEFECTS
Villanova Law Review, Vol.51, pp.803-1133
01 Jan 2006
Abstract
I. Introduction WE live in tense times. We worry about government surveillance and corporate snooping. 1 We fear misuse of our private information. We properly value privacy: it is a desirable end state and a precondition for identity, allowing individuals to achieve goals such as autonomy and solidarity with peers; it may protect the vulnerable from exposure to stigma and other harms in the larger world; it may allow us an essential space for our own thoughts and a chance to develop heretical ideas. 2 But we also know that privacy is a complex idea - that concealment of secrets by others may do us harm. At the same time, we fear that information critical to our safety will not be properly discovered and analyzed. Both the government and the private sector increasingly use "data mining" - that is, the application of database technology and techniques (such as statistical analysis and modeling) to uncover hidden patterns and subtle relationships in data, and to infer rules that allow for the prediction of future results. Many federal data mining efforts involve the use of personal information mined from databases maintained by public and private sector organizations. A recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) study found that out of 199 data mining efforts identified, 122 used personal information. 3 For these efforts, the primary purposes were detecting fraud, waste and abuse; detecting criminal activities or patterns; analyzing intelligence and detecting terrorist activities; and increasing tax compliance. 4 Most recently, a political ...
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Details
- Title
- DATA MINING AND SUBSTANDARD MEDICAL PRACTICE: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRIVACY, SECRETS AND HIDDEN DEFECTS
- Creators
- Barry R. Furrow
- Publication Details
- Villanova Law Review, Vol.51, pp.803-1133
- Publisher
- Villanova University Villanova Law Review
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Thomas R. Kline School of Law
- Identifiers
- 991020542454604721