Re: Privacy Rights

[Andreas von Heydwolff <106624.446@compuserve.com>]

On Equifax and medical data see an older article from Wired:

http://www.wired.com:80/wired/archive/3.09/equifax.html

here is a short excerpt:

-------------------- snip --------------------
Equifax databanks: stored here is personal and private
information on just about every man, woman, and child in the
United States, which is sold as widely as possible to make
money. [...] Equifax has also been pushing hard into the
area of consumer medical records. At a March 1995 press
conference in Atlanta, Equifax and AT&T announced the launch
of a joint "information assault" on national health care
problems. Equifax apparently wants to replace the chart in
my doctor's office with a few blocks of storage spinning in
some computer. To that end, AT&T will set up a sophisticated
network allowing my medical records to be accessed and
downloaded by any doctor or specialist I wish to visit. If
AT&T and Equifax are successful, they will control the
nation's largest networked repository of medical records,
storing the entire patient chart from cradle to grave, and
collect a fee every time someone sees a doctor. [...] "No
one has any idea just how many different investigative
consumer, medical, and insurance records Equifax is involved
with." [...] "...most people seem unaware of the company's
existence." 

----------------- end of snippet ----------

Andreas v. Heydwolff
Salzburg, Austria