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This book provides a comprehensive examination of the complex issues surrounding the regulation of the medical profession. It offers up-to-date information on the current legislative framework and institutional arrangements surrounding the regulation in the United Kingdom. Well organized and written in an accessible way, it offers an insight into key sociological theories surrounding medical regulation. It gives a historically situated analysis of the contemporary relationship between medicine, the state and the public, and an overview of relevant social scientific research. Case studies highl

Abstract: The first concept of privacy was provided by Samuel D. Warren and Louis Brandeis in 1890 as "the right to be left alone". At that time, the world was more than a century away from people voluntary disclosing information and sharing data on a large scale via the Internet on social networks such as Facebook. Today, the business model of the major social networks contain a thirst for their users' personal data which threatens user privacy. Information and power asymmetries hinder users from enforcing their privacy preferences. Furthermore, network effects and switching costs tie them to the market leading networks.The dissertation at hand analyses the topic of privacy in social networks from an information systems and economic research viewpoint. It illustrates privacy factors in the social network environment and examines the related dynamics of user privacy. As such, this thesis analyses whether the status quo of privacy in social networks is economically inefficient or leads to inefficiency, and whether governmental regulation is required. Moreover, existing approaches to solve the privacy challenge in social networks business are assessed and the most promising concepts are emphasized

The first concept of privacy was provided by Samuel D. Warren and Louis Brandeis in 1890 as "the right to be left alone". At that time, the world was more than a century away from people voluntary disclosing information and sharing data on a large scale via the Internet on social networks such as Facebook. Today, the business model of the major social networks contain a thirst for their users' personal data which threatens user privacy. Information and power asymmetries hinder users from enforcing their privacy preferences. Furthermore, network effects and switching costs tie them to the market leading networks. The dissertation at hand analyses the topic of privacy in social networks from an information systems and economic research viewpoint. It illustrates privacy factors in the social network environment and examines the related dynamics of user privacy. As such, this thesis analyses whether the status quo of privacy in social networks is economically inefficient or leads to inefficiency, and whether governmental regulation is required. Moreover, existing approaches to solve the privacy challenge in social networks business are assessed and the most promising concepts are emphasized.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of state legislation requiring patient informed consent prior to medical record abstraction by external researchers for a specific study. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Informed consent responses obtained from November 1997 through April 1998 from members of a Minnesota-based IPA model health plan. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive case study of consent to gain access to medical records for a pharmaco-epidemiologic study of seizures associated with use of a pain medication that was conducted as part of the FDA's post-marketing safety surveillance program to evaluate adverse events associated with approved drugs. DATA COLLECTION: The informed consent process approved by an institutional review board consisted of three phases: (1) a letter from the health plan's medical director requesting participation, (2) a second mailing to nonrespondents, and (3) a follow-up telephone call to nonrespondents. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Of 140 Minnesota health plan members asked to participate in the medical records study, 52 percent (73) responded and 19 percent (26) returned a signed consent form authorizing access to their records for the study. For 132 study subjects enrolled in five other health plans in states where study-specific consent was not required, health care providers granted access to patient medical records for 93 percent (123) of the members. CONCLUSION: Legislation requiring patient informed consent to gain access to medical records for a specific research study was associated with low participation and increased time to complete that observational study. Efforts to protect patient privacy may come into conflict with the ability to produce timely and valid research to safeguard and improve public health.

The 1990s have seen a resurgence of interest in information privacy. Public opinion surveys show that many citizens are becoming greatly concerned about threats to their information privacy, with levels of such concern reaching all-time highs. Perhaps as a response to the growing concerns of citizens, the media are devoting more attention to privacy issues, and governmental regulation of the corporate privacy environment is increasing in many countries. Almost all developed countries have grappled with the trade-offs between open access to information—which enables economic efficiency—and an individual's right to privacy. Consistent with these trade-offs, many recent incidents suggest that regulatory approaches to information privacy, corporate management of personal data, and consumer reactions are becoming tightly interwoven around the world. To provide some insights into these relationships, we develop a conceptual model and test it with a cross-cultural sample from 19 different countries. In general, we find that a country's regulatory approach to the corporate management of information privacy is affected by its cultural values and by individuals' information privacy concerns. In addition, as governments become more involved in the corporate management of information privacy, internal management of such issues seems to tighten. This result supports previous observations that most firms take a primarily reactive approach to managing privacy by waiting for an external threat before crafting cohesive policies that confront their information practices. Moreover, when corporations are not perceived to adequately manage information privacy issues, and/or when privacy concerns rise, individuals are more inclined to prefer government intervention and be distrustful of firm self-regulation. As such, citizens may look to lawmakers to enact stricter regulation to reduce their privacy concerns. These findings and several international trends suggest that the self-regulatory model of privacy governance may not be sustainable over the long term. Findings from this research constitute an important contribution to the emerging theoretical base of information privacy research and should be particularly enlightening to those managing information privacy issues. Several directions for future research are also discussed.

The right to privacy, especially with regard to personal health condition, seems to be an issue in China. Illegal access to personal information and illegal disclosure of personal information to others constitute the infringement of the Personal Privacy Act. Although the privacy right has been governed under the Constitution since the 1980's, however, its implementation has not yet been satisfactory due to some reasons. This paper aims to describe the implementation of the patient's privacy regulations in the People's Republic of China. This normative legal research employing a descriptive-qualitative method. The study shows that the right to privacy for the patients in China needs to get more attention from government, medical personnel and ruling groups.