Oct 6, 2009 (Genachowski channels his inner Bruce)
BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009
The National Broadband Plan goes to South Carolina while in DC US Internet Industry Association begins a discussion on Digital Inclusion -- see http://bit.ly/2HpqYj
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
Protecting Free Speech in the Digital Age
The Fight over Net Neutrality will be a Jungleland out there
Republicans seek study before FCC acts on Network Neutrality
Sen Franken Stumps For Network Neutrality
Net Neutrality: A Problem In Search Of A Solution
Washington Post Needs to Come Clean on Net Neutrality
Law Professors Support FCC in Comcast, BitTorrent Case
Free Press Files in Support of FCC Comcast Order
THE STIMULUS & THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
NTIA Announces First State Broadband Mapping Grants
Broadband Stimulus: Cha- Cha- Cha Changes in NOFA Rule
More, Better, Faster
Clyburn, Copps to Discuss Telemedicine Services
Access goals hitch ride at light speed
Broadband connectivity is a big issue in rural and remote parts of Minnesota
National Inventory of Broadband Projects and Programs
Broadband Community Search
Letters, Oh We get Letters, We Get (and Send) Letters Every Day
ADVERTISING
FTC Rules on Testimonial Advertisements, Bloggers, Celebrity Endorsements
US Media Revenue Set for Historic 2009 Decline
An upfront deal with MediaVest gives Hulu a piece of broadcast's dollars
Searching for Trouble
Google Decides to Find Its Creative Side
TELECOM
Verizon merges two landline units
DC Circuit Seemed to Support FCC Position on Universal Service: Report
Verizon Spearheads Effort to Pour $1.3B Into LTE
CYBERSECURITY
The Real Cyber Czar
With no plan to respond to cyberattacks, US risks reliving 9/11
HEALTH IT
AHIMA floats privacy 'bill of rights'
A New Web Tool to Take Control of Your Health
MORE ONLINE ...
Radio Bill Teed Up For Senate Action
Comcast's ambitions
Are We Headed For Another Tech Bubble?
Nemertes Still Pushing Exaflood Nonsense
To teach, train and retrain millions of people, online education is the only scalable option
SNL Language in Spotlight Again
International News Again Drives the Agenda
NETWORK NEUTRALITY
PROTECTING FREE SPEECH IN THE DIGITAL AGE
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Dawn Nunziato]
[Commentary] The United States and the European Union are poised to address an issue that affects the free speech interests of Internet users around the world. In the past ten days, both the Federal Communications Commission and the EU have engaged on the issue of net neutrality, a principle requiring that Internet users themselves -- not their broadband providers -- enjoy the right to control what content and applications they can access. After experimenting for several years with a course of deregulating broadband providers, the FCC is now heading in the direction of requiring broadband providers to serve as neutral conduits for our Internet communications. The EU should do so as well. The future of the Internet as an open, global communications medium requires no less. The FCC and the EU should act now to require that the handful of powerful companies who serve as the gatekeepers for Internet expression fulfill their obligations to the public free of discrimination and censorship to protect our free speech interests in the digital age.
benton.org/node/28507 | Washington Post
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THE FIGHT OVER NET NEUTRALITY WILL BE A JUNGLELAND OUT THERE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski took the opportunity of addressing the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit to discuss the importance of Network Neutrality. "With a free and open Internet, you don't have to have big-time, star-power leverage over record labels, publishing companies, commercial radio stations, or particular retailers to get your music to the public. In today's broadband world, the artists themselves can be self-empowering -- they are free to connect with audiences, paying customers, and musical social networks in ways previously unimaginable. Most importantly, Net Neutrality permits independent artists and independent labels to compete on an equal technological playing field with the biggest companies in the space. That's the American way -- letting Internet users, the broadest group possible of ordinary people, decide who wins and loses."
benton.org/node/28506 | Federal Communications Commission
Recommend this Headline
back to top
REPUBLICANS SEEK STUDY BEFORE FCC ACTS ON NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: John Poirier]
Twenty House Republicans wrote Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski asking the FCC to conduct a market analysis before proposing Network neutrality rules. They want to know if the agency will be examining networks, services, consumer electronics equipment, applications, as well as cable, wireline, wireless, satellite and broadband to determine if a rules to maintain an open Internet are necessary. Chairman Genachowski has tentatively set October 22 as the date the FCC will launch a rulemaking proceeding on policies to preserve the free and open Internet. Gigi Sohn, head of the Public Knowledge advocacy group, called the letter "another attempt at a delaying tactic by those who favor big telecom and cable companies over competition and innovation."
benton.org/node/28505 | Reuters | FCC Tentative Agenda | PK | ars technica
Recommend this Headline
back to top
SEN FRANKEN STUMPS FOR NETWORK NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Sen Al Franken (D-MN) told a Future of Music Coalition policy summit audience in Washington that he will work with the Federal Communications Commission and President Barack Obama to make network neutrality regulations a reality, saying it is a 21st Century reiteration of the First Amendment. He said the "freedom and openness" that have been the Internet's hallmarks are under fire thanks to Internet service providers who use "network management" as code for "finding ways to squeeze more cash out of their networks." Borrowing discrimination phrase-turning from the Civil Rights movement, Sen Franken said he was concerned that a system where big companies paid for prioritized traffic would divide the Web into a system of "separate but unequal networks." Sen Franken said there were two main issues -- censorship and innovation. He called out Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon for engaging in censorship, likening them to Internet filterers in Iran. As to innovation, he said that the problem wasn't just with what could be taken away, but what would never be created in the first place.
benton.org/node/28515 | Broadcasting&Cable
Recommend this Headline
back to top
NET NEUTRALITY: A PROBLEM IN SEARCH OF A SOLUTION
[SOURCE: App-Rising.com, AUTHOR: Geoff Daily]
[Commentary] The problem, as Daily sees it, isn't necessarily that Internet network operators are messing with traffic, but rather that there aren't any clear rules of the road for what traffic management is OK and what isn't. Smaller operators are holding back innovation in their networks to make sure they don't run afoul of these nebulous rules. And these problems will likely only get worse as new ways to manage traffic emerge that will create more uncertainty about what's OK and what's not. This is especially true as the concept of managed services begins to take hold, which opens a whole other can of worms about who should get access to what and what rules need to be in place to protect free and open competition on these next-gen networks. The undeniable truth is that network operators need to know what they can and can't do in terms of managing access to and traffic on their networks, and app developers and content creators need to be able to have an understanding of what to expect as they create experiences that leverage these networks. Without some level of certainty about all of this we're going to force everyone to be hesitant when it comes to investing in expanding their capabilities in all the different directions that digital technologies make possible.
benton.org/node/28504 | App-Rising.com
Recommend this Headline
back to top
WASHINGTON POST NEEDS TO COME CLEAN ON NET NEUTRALITY
[SOURCE: The Huffington Post, AUTHOR: Timothy Karr]
[Commentary] In response to a Washington post editorial opposing efforts to write Network neutrality rules, Karr writes that the editorial suffers not only from inaccuracy, but also from lack of disclosure. One of the companies that stands to gain from a world without Net Neutrality is Cable One, an Internet service provider active in 19 states that hopes to pad its already considerable profits by stifling the free flow of online communications. One of the principal owners of Cable One is - you guessed it -- the Washington Post. Given the Post's recent controversy over paid editorial salons, the paper would do well to better mind the firewall that allegedly separates news and editorial operations from business back offices. Readers should demand that the Post's ombudsman and editorial page editor clarify this obvious oversight. Not to be outdone, "unabashedly" open corporate shill Scott Cleland demands that Free Press, New America Foundation, Public Knowledge, and the Media Access Project disclose their sponsors.
benton.org/node/28503 | Huffington Post, The | Scott Cleland response
Recommend this Headline
back to top
LAW PROFESSORS SUPPORT FCC IN COMCAST, BITTORRENT CASE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Five law professors have filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief in Comcast's challenge of the Federal Communications Commission's decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. They called the FCC's decision a "modest step" that simply supports decades for policy promoting an open and accessible net. By contrast, they argued, reversing the FCC's decision -- using unreasonable network management techniques was not giving customers sufficient notice about how it was managing its network -- "would reduce the Internet's ability to serve as an open platform for innovation, economic growth, and democratic discourse." The filers are: 1) Jack M. Balkin is the Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School. 2) James Ming ("Jim") Chen is Dean of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. 3) Lawrence Lessig is a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and is the director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University. 4) Barbara van Schewick is Assistant Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Assistant Professor (by courtesy) of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. 5) Timothy Wu is a Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School.
benton.org/node/28516 | Broadcasting&Cable | Law professors
Recommend this Headline
back to top
FREE PRESS FILES IN SUPPORT OF FCC COMCAST ORDER
[SOURCE: Free Press, AUTHOR: Press release]
In a legal brief filed Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, Free Press and five other organizations backed the Federal Communications Commission's authority to protect Internet users' right to an open Internet. The brief defends the FCC's decision in 2008 to act on a complaint, also filed by Free Press and its allies, asking the FCC to stop Comcast's illegal Internet blocking. Comcast appealed the order, challenging the FCC's jurisdiction and procedures. The appeal is currently in the D.C. Circuit Court and no argument date has yet been scheduled.
benton.org/node/28502 | Free Press | Free Press brief
Recommend this Headline
back to top
THE STIMULUS & THE NATIONAL BROADBAND PLAN
NTIA ANNOUNCES FIRST STATE BROADBAND MAPPING GRANTS
[SOURCE: National Telecommunications and Information Administration]
The Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) today announced that it has awarded the first four grants under NTIA's State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program to fund activities in California, Indiana, North Carolina, and Vermont. The program, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will increase broadband access and adoption through better data collection and broadband planning. The data will be displayed in NTIA's national broadband map, a tool that will inform policymakers' efforts and provide consumers with improved information on the broadband Internet services available to them. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is awarded approximately $1.8 million; the Indiana Office of Technology (IOT) is awarded approximately $1.3 million; the Rural Economic Development Center (e-NC Authority) is awarded approximately $1.6 million; and the Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI) is awarded approximately $1.2 million to collect and verify the availability, speed, and location of broadband across the states of California, Indiana, North Carolina, and Vermont, respectively. This activity is to be conducted on a semi-annual basis between 2009 and 2011, with initial data coming available in November 2009 to inform broadband policy efforts. Awardees are to present the data in a clear and accessible format to the public, government, and the research community. The CPUC is also awarded $500,000 for the cost of broadband planning activities in California over four years, bringing its grant award total to approximately $2.3 million. In addition, the e-NC Authority is awarded approximately $435,000 for the cost of broadband planning activities in North Carolina over five years, bringing its grant award total to over $2 million.
benton.org/node/28501 | National Telecommunications and Information Administration | Reuters | Craig Settles
Recommend this Headline
back to top
BROADBAND STIMULUS: CHA- CHA- CHANGES IN NOFA RULE
[SOURCE: 4GWirelessEvolution, AUTHOR: Craig Settles]
[Commentary] Some time this month, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Rural Utilities Service intend to issue a Request for Information" (RFI) to gather input on rule changes, additions, deletions, and so on for the next broadband stimulus Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). This is likely your last best opportunity to impact the stimulus funding process. There's a strong sentiment at the agencies to combine the last two funding rounds. Expect serious jockeying for attention by incumbents who've decided they want to play in the sandbox after all, but not by rules that the first round's 2,200 applicants did. One new rule Settles believes should insist on is that the protections for applicants from incumbent challenges be written, not just verbal as they are currently. Furthermore, insist that applicants have a clearly written defense process to counter challenges, AND be able to see the "evidence" that incumbents submit for their challenges. Currently incumbents can hide evidence behind NDAs, making it harder for communities to defend against challenges.
benton.org/node/28500 | 4GWirelessEvolution
Recommend this Headline
back to top
MORE, BETTER, FASTER
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
After digesting 26 workshops, testimony from 230 witnesses and nearly 41,000 pages of written comments, the Federal Communications Commission clearly sees a need for speed. That was one remedy that emerged at a public meeting last week as the agency tries to craft a strategy for "delivery of universal, affordable, widely adopted broadband to serve vital national purposes" as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The national broadband plan is due to Congress by Feb. 17, 2010. At the FCC meeting, chairman Julius Genachowski offered a state-of-the-industry update, rather than strong recommendations. Still, the need for faster Internet lines complicates another key agency mission: service to the about 3 million to 6 million people are who are unserved by basic broadband, defined as a speed of 768 Kilobits per second or less. As the FCC increases the minimum broadband speed in its definition, the number of "unserved" subscribers also goes up. And that, of course, means more money must be spent. By the government's own estimates, the total investment required could go as high as "$350 billion for 100 [Megabits per second] or faster."
benton.org/node/28499 | Multichannel News
Recommend this Headline
back to top
CLYBURN, COPPS TO DISCUSS TELEMEDICINE SERVICES
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
On October 6, FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Michael Copps will discuss how broadband has enabled the Medical University of South Carolina to serve rural areas through telemedicine. MUSC officials will describe the research institution's support for advanced stroke treatment services, prenatal care and other health care services for women via broadband networks. MUSC is part of the Palmetto State Providers Network, which connects four rural and underserved regions to a fiber optic backbone being developed in the state and Internet2. The network is a participant in the FCC's Rural Health Care Pilot Program.
benton.org/node/28498 | Federal Communications Commission
Recommend this Headline
back to top
GENACHOWSKI RELEASES CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENCE
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, AUTHOR: ]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has released some correspondence he's shared with Members of Congress. The correspondence covers the National Broadband Plan, PEG channels on cable systems, public safety radio licences, and Iridium. On the broadband plan, Rep Joe Baca (D-CA) wrote in July with concerns about the level of minority participation in the development and implementation of a national broadband plan. "A sound and strategic plan is essential to ensuring an effective and accessible broadband service is available for all minority and low-income communities," Rep Baca wrote. In late September, Chairman Genachowski replied saying that the Commission is working to collect public comment on "affordability programs for low-income and minority communities, digital literacy campaigns, multi-layered broadband mapping, and special considerations for minority-owned businesses."
Chairman Genachowski's response to Congressman Joe Baca Regarding the Commission's National Broadband Plan Proceeding.
benton.org/node/28510
Recommend this Headline
back to top
ADVERTISING
FTC RULES ON TESTIMONIAL ADVERTISEMENTS, BLOGGERS, CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
[SOURCE: Federal Trade Commission, AUTHOR: Press release]
The Federal Trade Commission announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act. The notice incorporates several changes to the FTC's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers. The Guides were last updated in 1980. Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as "results not typical" the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor. The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that "material connections" (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers connections that consumers would not expect must be disclosed.
benton.org/node/28497 | Federal Trade Commission | CNet | TheDeal | TechDailyDose | ColumbiaJournalismReview | B&C | MediaWeek | MediaPost
Recommend this Headline
back to top
US MEDIA REVENUE SET FOR HISTORIC 2009 DECLINE
[SOURCE: AdAge, AUTHOR: Bradley Johnson]
Just how tough has the media space become? The nation's top 100 media companies eked out 0.8% revenue growth in 2008 -- and the reported revenue for top media firms in the first half of this year fell 4.3% from a year ago, according to Ad Age's analysis. So not only was last year's Media 100 revenue growth the lowest since 1991, this year it's on track to show the first decline since Ad Age began ranking top media firms in 1981. Remarkably, 11 of last year's Media 100 firms have plunged into bankruptcy reorganization, overwhelmed in most cases by shrinking revenue and debt loads taken on during the blind optimism of the boom. Print media dominate the bankruptcy list: six newspaper companies, two magazine publishers and two yellow-pages publishers. That points to the momentum going toward digital-media firms, right? Not so fast. Interactive is a mixed bag of hype and hope, with media revenue surging in 2008 at Google (up 23.2%) and flagging at Microsoft Corp. And when it comes to revenue, Facebook and Twitter aren't worth Twittering about at this stage.
benton.org/node/28496 | AdAge
Recommend this Headline
back to top
AN UPFRONT DEAL WITH MEDIAVEST GIVES HULU A PIECE OF BROADCAST'S DOLLARS
[SOURCE: AdWeek, AUTHOR: Brian Morrissey]
Hulu is drawing nearer to its goal of getting a big chunk of broadcast TV dollars thanks to an upfront commitment from MediaVest. The Publicis Groupe agency is committing several million dollars of ad spending to Hulu over the next year as part of an upfront deal targeted to demographic clusters. The agreement includes at least six MediaVest clients, with potentially more to join. That it was crafted on audience demos aligns Hulu's ad sales more closely with how broadcast deals are cut. Hulu determines demographics for its content based on a combination of data from Nielsen, comScore and its own user registration lists. For Hulu, the deal represents an important step in building its ad business to match its buzz factor. Since its public debut in March 2008, the site has steadily built its audience. According to comScore, Hulu is now the No. 2 video site, serving 393 million streams in August, more than triple a year earlier. The video hub has the largest cache of high-quality content online, with TV programming from NBC Universal, News Corp. and some Disney properties. CBS remains a holdout, with CBS Interactive head Quincy Smith recently saying Hulu is driving down the TV ratings for some programs.
benton.org/node/28494 | AdWeek
Recommend this Headline
back to top
SEARCHING FOR TROUBLE
[SOURCE: The New Yorker, AUTHOR: Ken Auletta]
Google search now takes in about four of every ten online advertising dollars, and last year, Google's revenues exceeded twenty-two billion dollars, more than two-thirds of the thirty billion in total U.S. newspaper advertising projected for this year. Google has reinforced the notion that traditional media now want to combat: that digital information and content should be free and that advertising alone should subsidize it. To many, Google appears impregnable. But the same has been thought of the Big Three auto companies, IBM, and Microsoft.
benton.org/node/28484 | New Yorker, The
Recommend this Headline
back to top
TELECOM
VERIZON MERGES TWO LANDLINE UNITS
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Sinead Carew]
Verizon is reorganizing its two landline telecom business -- Verizon Telecom, which serves consumers, and Verizon Business, which targets corporate clients -- into one group, as consumers continue to disconnect home phones in favor of cellphones or rivals. Verizon named Fran Shammo, president of Verizon Business, as president of the realigned wireline operations and said Shammo would report directly to Verizon Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg. Verizon made no mention of job cuts but spokesman Peter Thonis noted that Verizon had been reducing headcount in its traditional phone business for up to six years in order to reflect the decline in home phone lines.
benton.org/node/28495 | Reuters | WSJ
Recommend this Headline
back to top
DC CIRCUIT SEEMED TO SUPPORT FCC POSITION ON UNIVERSAL SERVICE
[SOURCE: BroadbandCensus.com, AUTHOR: ]
The universal service fund has been growing at an alarming rate over the past few years, and in order to curb its growth the Federal Communications Commission choose to cap the amount of support a competitive eligible telecommunications company could receive in 2008. The Rural Cellular Association filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit court of appeals to remove this cap. The court seemed to support the position of the FCC in capping the fund, according to a Monday research report by Stifel Nicholas.
benton.org/node/28491 | BroadbandCensus.com
Recommend this Headline
back to top
VERIZON SPEARHEADS LTE EFFORT
[SOURCE: GigaOm, AUTHOR: Colin Gibbs]
A half-dozen venture capital firms will invest as much as $1.3 billion into Long Term Evolution, or LTE, development under a new initiative spearheaded by Verizon Wireless. The 4G Venture Forum, as the group is dubbed, includes Alcatel-Lucent Ventures, Charles River Partners, New Venture Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures, as well as LTE infrastructure providers Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson. The venture firms will identify and fund ideas for devices and applications, while Verizon and the two infrastructure companies will test concepts through their labs and developer communities.
benton.org/node/28487 | GigaOm
Recommend this Headline
back to top
CYBERSECURITY
THE REAL CYBER CZAR
[SOURCE: National Journal, AUTHOR: Shane Harris]
Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander is the director of the National Security Agency, the largest intelligence agency in the government, and with little public fanfare he has been setting up the central nervous system in the government's new campaign to defend cyberspace. The agency historically has not been a front-line guardian of civilian government networks, much less the systems that run privately owned electrical plants, dams and financial systems. But that is changing. Recently, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said NSA will provide DHS with "technical assistance" as it carries out its statutory mission to defend civilian networks and coordinate private sector protection. Homeland Security, with its much smaller and less experienced cyber staff, will depend on Alexander and his crew for the tools, expertise and resources to do the job. For his part, Alexander has kept a modest public profile and downplayed talk of bureaucratic turf wars with Homeland Security. He and Napolitano are on the same page, even if that can't be said for her staff. In his speeches and statements, Alexander displays the ease of a man who's been given a mission and who knows what it is. Whoever becomes czar will have to hope Alexander maintains this collaborative spirit - and that he returns phone calls.
benton.org/node/28493 | National Journal
Recommend this Headline
back to top
WITH NO PLAN TO RESPOND TO CYBERATTACKS, US RISKS RELIVING 9/11
[SOURCE: nextgov, AUTHOR: Jill Aitoro]
In the wake of a widespread cyberattack, the United States could face the same lack of coordination and preparedness the nation experienced after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because the government has not developed clear policies for how to respond, a panel of current and former federal security officials said on Monday. "In terms of terrorism response, I think we're getting well-practiced and well-organized. We are an efficient nation," said Gen. Michael Hayden, principal at consulting firm Chertoff Group and former Bush Administration director of the CIA. "Not so with the new age threat of cyberattacks, [where] we are not well-organized. It's very unclear who would be in charge of response." As a result, the federal response to a cyberattack could resemble what happened on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked, said Hayden. The government would pull together people to "frankly act like a committee, because we don't have any other alternative" strategy in place to define how federal, state and local government and the private sector will respond, he added.
benton.org/node/28492 | nextgov
Recommend this Headline
back to top
HEALTH IT
AHIMA FLOATS PRIVACY 'BILL OF RIGHTS'
[SOURCE: GovernemntHealthIT, AUTHOR: Brian Robinson]
The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) is looking to bridge what it sees as a yawning gap in health privacy protections with a seven-point bill of rights it hopes will push the healthcare industry to a "major paradigm shift" in patient privacy practices. The bill is necessary because of "repeated abuses of access, accuracy, privacy and security of the most basic rights of individuals,' said Vera Rulon, AHIMA's president. The AHIMA's principles include: 1) The right to access your health information free of charge, 2) The right to access your health information during the course of treatment, 3) The right to expect that your health information is accurate and as complete as possible, 4) The right for you or your personal representative(s) to know who provides, accesses, and updates your health information, except as precluded by law or regulation, 5) The right to expect healthcare professionals and others with lawful access to your health information to be held accountable for violations of all privacy and security laws, policies, and procedures, including the sharing of user IDs and passwords, 6) The right to expect equivalent health information privacy and security protections to be available to all healthcare consumers regardless of state or geographic boundaries or the location (jurisdiction) of where the treatment occurs, 7) The right to the opportunity for private legal recourse in the event of a breach of one's health information that causes harm.
benton.org/node/28486 | GovernemntHealthIT | AHIMA
Recommend this Headline
back to top
A NEW WEB TOOL TO TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR HEALTH
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Steve Lohr]
The long-term answer to improving the health of the nation's population and curbing costs, experts agree, is to help people make smarter decisions day in and day out about their own health. And the most powerful potential tool in the march toward intelligent consumerism in health care may be the Web. Already, surveys show that a majority of adults in America routinely scour the Internet for health information. Doctors joke that the standard second opinion of diagnosis and treatment has become a patient's Google search, with the results printed out and brought to the doctor's office. But the Web is still mainly a vast trove of generalized health information. The ideal, health experts say, would be to combine personal data with health information to deliver tailored health plans for individuals.
benton.org/node/28513 | New York Times
Recommend this Headline
back to top