Which company ranked first in terms of the amount of information collected?
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have identified an alarming trend in the field of personal data protection in US medical institutions. According to their data, 96% of non-federal hospital sites with emergency departments share information about their users with third parties, including Google, Meta* and various data brokers.
Interestingly, not all of the websites reviewed had at least some kind of prescribed privacy policy at all. And of those that did, only 56% mentioned specific companies to which user information can be transferred.
It is noteworthy that at every step of the study, it was Google Corporation that stood out as the main recipient of information. Many hospitals also mentioned that user data can be shared with companies such as Adobe, as well as telecommunications and marketing companies, including Verizon and Oracle.
Most of the sites that had a privacy policy explicitly listed specific data that they might collect about their users. They were:
So, the Massachusetts General Hospital, located in Boston, USA, in 2022 paid $ 18.4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the institution of transferring personal patient information to Facebook, Google and other companies.
The study raises questions not only about the practices of collecting and transmitting hospital-specific data, but also about large-scale data privacy issues on the Internet.
Dr. Ari Friedman, an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, suggested that visitors to hospital websites use anonymization tools such as Ghostery and Privacy Badger to block data transmission to third parties in order to minimize risks to personal information.
The researchers emphasize the need to critically rethink privacy practices on hospital websites and improve the protection of personal data of patients and other visitors. The confidentiality of clients should be a priority for medical institutions in order to prevent their unauthorized transfer to third parties.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have identified an alarming trend in the field of personal data protection in US medical institutions. According to their data, 96% of non-federal hospital sites with emergency departments share information about their users with third parties, including Google, Meta* and various data brokers.
Interestingly, not all of the websites reviewed had at least some kind of prescribed privacy policy at all. And of those that did, only 56% mentioned specific companies to which user information can be transferred.
It is noteworthy that at every step of the study, it was Google Corporation that stood out as the main recipient of information. Many hospitals also mentioned that user data can be shared with companies such as Adobe, as well as telecommunications and marketing companies, including Verizon and Oracle.
Most of the sites that had a privacy policy explicitly listed specific data that they might collect about their users. They were:
- IP address (80%);
- Name and version of the web browser (75%);
- Pages visited on the hospital's website (73%);
- The website from which the user came to the hospital page (73%).
So, the Massachusetts General Hospital, located in Boston, USA, in 2022 paid $ 18.4 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the institution of transferring personal patient information to Facebook, Google and other companies.
The study raises questions not only about the practices of collecting and transmitting hospital-specific data, but also about large-scale data privacy issues on the Internet.
Dr. Ari Friedman, an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, suggested that visitors to hospital websites use anonymization tools such as Ghostery and Privacy Badger to block data transmission to third parties in order to minimize risks to personal information.
The researchers emphasize the need to critically rethink privacy practices on hospital websites and improve the protection of personal data of patients and other visitors. The confidentiality of clients should be a priority for medical institutions in order to prevent their unauthorized transfer to third parties.
