Segment from a Privacy Notice

So. Had to go see an orthopedic doctor last week.

I was sitting there, filling out paperwork, actually reading the fine print. One section of paperwork required my printed name, my initials in two places, a date, and my signature; this was to confirm that I had read and understood the office's privacy notice. I had been directed by staff to fill out this section. However, one problem- there was not a version of the privacy notice anywhere to be seen.

Well, I got my companion, The Stig's Big Brother, to run up to the counter and ask for the privacy notice. About 20 minutes later, the office manager printed and brought a copy out to me. The thing is five pages long! Apparently, no one ever reads the damn thing, even though they sign legal paperwork confirming that they have seen it.

Along with a section in the privacy notice that reads "...at the time of first service rendered after April 14, 2003, it is required that you receive a paper copy" of this notice.

That's enough to scare the crap out of me, but then I come across these jewels buried in the, ahem, privacy notice:

National Security and Intelligence Activities
We may release health information about you to authorized federal officials for intelligence, counterintelligence, and other national security activities authorized by law.

Protective Services for the President and Others
We may disclose health information about you to authorized federal officials so they may provide protection to the President, other authorized persons or foreign heads of state or conduct special investigations.

WHAT FUCKING "PRIVACY" ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT??? When you read the entire document, it is essentially ensuring that you have no privacy, and that anyone, even your Pre$ident, can find out when you had that nasty-ass mole removed from your face, the date of your last menstrual cycle, and probably, even the DNA chains that make up your being.

Oh yeah, the section about how you cannot get any copies of Your health records before January 3, 2003, even though they are Your records, is scary reading indeed.

But, they wouldn't want us living in fear, now, would they?

San Francisco Law School Comes to Aid of Students Accused of Copyright Infringement

February 28, 2008

Another law school clinic is assisting college students who have been accused of swapping music files online in violation of copyright law. Students taking part in an intellectual-property project of the University of San Francisco School of Law are counseling some students at the university and at San Francisco State University on how to respond to letters they have received from the Recording Industry Association of America, accusing them of copyright infringement.

The law students, under the tutelage of Robert E. Talbot, a law professor, are explaining to the accused college students their rights, and whether they can bring an effective defense against the recording-industry group, according to an article published last week by the law school. The law students also are helping Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer and blogger, defend people sued by the industry group throughout the country.

“The RIAA is using heavy-handed tactics that some of the law students feel border on extortion,” Mr. Talbot says in the article.

Law students with the University of Maine’s Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic have gone a step further, actually representing students who are singled out by the Recording Industry Association of America.—-Andrea L. Foster

Posted on Thursday February 28, 2008