Health Privacy 101 with Jordan Wrigley and Kirk Nahra [S4E06]

Tech Policy Grind

Welcome back to the Tech Policy Grind! Today, class is in session for Health Privacy 101 with Jordan Wrigley and Kirk Nahra.

In May 2022, the leaked SCOTUS decision overturning Roe v. Wade shocked the nation. About a month later, the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case officially overturned the constitutional right to abortion. Last year, we talked with EFF’s Eva Galperin on the Tech Policy Grind about how technology could amplify surveillance on women’s reproductive health in a Post-Dobbs world. Around the same time, The Federal Trade Commission, the White House, civil society, industry, and lots of other stakeholders got to thinking – what is the role of digital privacy and security in protecting women from being prosecuted by their state or local governments for receiving life-saving care?

In this episode, we revisit that subject, under a broader lens. Reema sits down with Kirk Nahra, partner and co-chair of the privacy and cybersecurity practice at Wilmer Hale, a large international law firm, and Jordan Wrigley, a health privacy researcher at the Future of Privacy Forum, who is leading FPF’s Health Privacy Working Group. Kirk and Jordan are some of the leading health data privacy experts in the country. We get into what the American legal landscape looks like for health privacy, some of the FTC’s recent actions in this space, and more.

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Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for our next episode!

Additional Resources and Reading:

• BetterHelp Enforcement Action Demonstrates FTC’s Continued Focus on Use and Disclosure of Health Information for Advertising
• FTC Brings First of its Kind Enforcement Action against GoodRx for Violating the Health Breach Notification Rule
• Top takeaways from the FTC-GoodRx case: A chat with Kirk Nahra

DISCLAIMER: Reema engages with the Foundry voluntarily and in her personal capacity. The views and opinions expressed on air do not reflect those of the organizations that Reema is affiliated with.