Issues and developments related to ethics, information, and technologies, examined in the ethics and intellectual property graduate courses I teach at the University of Pittsburgh School of Computing and Information. My Bloomsbury book "Ethics, Information, and Technology" will be published in January 2026. Kip Currier, PhD, JD
Mona Sloane and Albert Fox Cahn, The Daily Beast; Today's COVID-19 Data Will be Tomorrow's Tools of Oppression "For proof of the danger, one need only look at the aftermath of September 11th. When Congress enacted the USA PATRIOT Act, just a few weeks after the deadly attacks, the fear of terrorism blinded lawmakers to the threat of broad-based, suspicionless surveillance. Decades later, those same provisions, many of which were supposed to sunset in 2005, were still being renewed as recently as this week. If we pass hastily drafted measures to address the privacy impact of COVID-19 surveillance, there is no reason to think their impact would fade any sooner. We need laws that protect citizens from the new privacy risks posed by COVID-19-induced data exploitation. This is even more crucial when we're including profit-motivated entities. Days ago, President Trump announced a larger private sector partnership as part of the White House’s COVID-19 response that included large-scale collaborations with Google, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and others. New legal frameworks need to impose clear limits on how health data from the COVID-19 response can be exploited for other business lines."
"“For the machine to know you’re talking to it, it has to be taking that voice information that it’s recording and sending it back and processing,” said [cyber security expert Sean Lawson. "The technology is really cool, especially if you grew up watching ‘The Jetsons’ or ‘Star Trek.’ The problem is, I also know how they work and the privacy implications. The costs versus the benefits of what this device will do for me is just not worth paying in terms of the privacy you give up. But everyone needs to make that decision for themselves.”"
The rise in health information technology and wearable devices has brought innovative models of healthcare delivery, as well as increasing privacy risks and compliance concerns. Join our expert faculty as they discuss privacy issues confronting emerging technologies.
Topics will include:
Applicability of HIPAA to technology companies
Office for Civil Rights (OCR) guidance on HIPAA and cloud computing
Increasing Focus on Patient Right of Access
Recent enforcement settlements affecting emerging health care technologies and developers
Privacy considerations in the era of the Internet of Things (IoT)/Wearables
