Article RoundUp: Privacy Issues, Cost Savings, Open Access, and Isenberg

I've been coming across a lot of great articles recently, so I wanted to share a handful for your reading pleasure:

Patriot Act haunts Google service
Story about a Canadian university who faced the choice of a million dollar upgrade to create an in-house system, or adopting Google’s Apps for free. They chose free and were happy with it, until they learned they were on the wrong side of privacy laws and worries about US snooping. Now similar concerns are deterring the uptake of these hosted applications elsewhere. Proof positive that there are still a lot of growing pains left to endure and overcome as we try to transition from the old world to anew.

Practicing Patients
In-depth New York Times article primarily about a site called PatientsLikeMe.com that records, tracks, and anonymously researches the health status of patients with a variety of conditions. More generally this is an exploration of the privacy issues associated with your medical information, which has long been held to be of the most sensitive variety.

Healthcare IT: Saving Lives, Saving Money
Important post on Cisco’s High Tech Policy Blog, ostensibly about S. 2408, the Medicare Electronic Medication and Safety Protection Act, which champions e-prescriptions mandating their use for Medicare patients. What I found most significant was the brief discussion about how government is starting to realize that investment in the use of health IT isn’t just a cost as it can drive new efficiencies that produce overall net savings. In the case of this bill that means $3 billion.

PacketFront on Open Access
Packetfront doesn’t always seem all that eager to pursue attention for the open access municipal broadband model that it champions, so it was interesting to read this extended explanation of its benefits and answers to specific questions posed by the good people at the Blandin Foundation. This is a must read for anyone interested in or intrigued by open access networks.

The Next President’s Internet Policy
I’m eagerly awaiting the opportunity to meet David Isenberg for the first time at his event Freedom to Connect 2008 next week in DC. He’s a tremendous thinker and the man responsible for this wonderful list of ten talking points for the next US President. I’ll be working on a more in-depth reaction to this to post in the near future.