Opinion: Look to the EU’s new privacy law as a model for replacing the ‘confusing patchwork’ in the U.S.
The EU did something smart in overhauling its data privacy rules. The U.S. should follow.
A confusing patchwork of rules governs the privacy and security of health information in the United States. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, for example, applies only to certain “covered entities” holding “protected health information.” Student health records are generally governed by federal student privacy laws, while commercial health apps and wearable devices operate under an entirely different set of rules.
This complicated legal framework on average Americans. As a privacy lawyer at the Center for Democracy and Technology, I constantly grapple with understanding as one where “large gaps in policies around access, security, and privacy continue, and confusion persists among both consumers and innovators.”
