Government health care website quietly sharing personal data

[PoliticAverse]

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government's health insurance website is quietly sending consumers' personal data to private companies that specialize in advertising and analyzing Internet data for performance and marketing, The Associated Press has learned.

The scope of what is disclosed or how it might be used was not immediately clear, but it can include age, income, ZIP code, whether a person smokes, and if a person is pregnant. It can include a computer's Internet address, which can identify a person's name or address when combined with other information collected by sophisticated online marketing or advertising firms.

The Obama administration says HealthCare.gov's connections to data firms were intended to help improve the consumer experience. Officials said outside firms are barred from using the data to further their own business interests.

Read the rest at: http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Py6rd7WO

[marym625]

1. What?

The entire last paragraph is contradictory.

Damn I am sick of this shit.

[merrily]

2. I had read, maybe on DU, that govt sells our info as well as buying it.

You know, one of those public/private partnerships that serve the public.



I don't know if this story involves sale by the govt, but it supposedly does happen.

[PoliticAverse]

3. Followup: Gov't reverses on health care privacy problem

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is reversing itself after an outcry over consumer privacy on HealthCare.gov, the government's health insurance website.

The Associated Press confirms that the administration made changes to the website to scale back release of consumers' personal information to private companies that analyze Internet performance and sell ads.

Read the rest at: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150123/us-health-overhaul-privacy-0dfcba7cac.html