Health

Authors: John Verdi (Vice President of Policy) and Katelyn Ringrose (Christopher Wolf Diversity Law Fellow)  In July 2018, the Future of Privacy Forum released Privacy Best Practices for Consumer Genetic Testing Services. FPF developed the Best Practices following consultation with technical experts, regulators, leading consumer genetic and personal genomic testing companies, and civil society. The […]

A new playbook from the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and BrightHive, Responsible Data Use Playbook for Digital Contact Tracing, provides a series of considerations to assist stakeholders in setting up a digital contact tracing initiative to track and manage the spread of COVID-19, while addressing privacy concerns raised by these technologies in an ethical, […]

In a recent article published by the Associated Press in The Washington Post and The New York Times, the Future of Privacy Forum warns of the privacy risks of sharing information about positive COVID-19 tests among students, particularly student athletes who have already returned to campus to prepare for the upcoming sports season. Read an excerpt […]

Op-ed by Future of Privacy Forum CEO Jules Polonetsky published in The74. As CEO of a global data protection nonprofit, I spend my workdays focused on helping policymakers and companies navigate new technologies and digital security concerns that have emerged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, my children have adopted many of these […]

Authors: Hannah Schaller, Gabriela Zanfir-Fortuna, and Rachele Hendricks-Sturrup Around the world, governments, companies, and other entities are either using or planning to rely on thermal imaging as an integral part of their strategy to reopen economies. The announced purpose of using this technology is to detect potential cases of COVID-19 and filter out individuals in […]

Authors: Stacey Gray, Senior Counsel; Katelyn Ringrose, Christopher Wolf Diversity Law Fellow; and Polly Sanderson, Policy Counsel Yesterday, Senators Cantwell (D-WA), Cassidy (R-LA), and Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced a new COVID-19 data protection bill, the Exposure Notification Privacy Act, which would create legal limits for “automated exposure notification services.” The bill comes on the heels of […]

While the legislative process for COVID-related data is advancing, the business and platform standards for apps are falling in place. Rules for All COVID Apps In response to the coronavirus pandemic, developers are rushing to create applications to support healthcare systems, spread awareness in the community, guide epidemiological research, and mitigate the spread. Apple and […]

Today, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) published an infographic, “The World of Geolocation Data” that outlines how location data is generated from mobile devices, who has access to it, and factors to consider in evaluating privacy risks. Data from our mobile devices, including smartphones and fitness trackers, can serve as a proxy for where […]

As a privacy expert, if my local health department develops a mobile app for people with a COVID diagnosis to alert anyone they were near, will I use it? Yes, I will. And I will urge friends, neighbors and colleagues to download such an app. I have an immuno-compromised family member in my household. I am […]

By Pollyanna Sanderson (Policy Counsel), Stacey Gray (Senior Policy Counsel) & Katelyn Ringrose (Christopher Wolf Diversity Law Fellow) Yesterday afternoon, leading House and Senate Democrats introduced the Public Health Emergency Privacy Act. The Democratic-led bill, which was introduced by Senators Blumenthal and Warner, as well as Representatives Eshoo, Schakowsky and DelBene, follows the May 10th […]