There are plenty of incidents every year. Just this year, there were 2 already:

https://compliancy-group.com/hipaa-fines-directory-year/

I bet Uber is quaking at the thought of a $3.5 million fine.

They lose like 1000x that per year.

You probably make over 100k/yr if you're a software dev in some major city, but I'm sure you wouldn't want a $350 traffic ticket, right?

This is a poor comparison and I hope you can understand why. If not let me know and I can clarify.

Sure, it is, insofar as a corporation cannot physically quake in its boots. A fine is designed to discourage an entity from doing bad things. TFA says Uber is working with Clearwater, which indicates to me that the incentive of a potential fine is working as intended.

One can try to argue that uber is lying about its hipaa compliance efforts in order to save the few hundred thousands that they would be paying Clearwater and in dev costs, and one can counter argue that that accusation has no reliable sources to back it up and is fueled by a desire for internet karma points.

HHS prefers not to use civil monetary penalties, but they hit when they do: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/compliance-enfor...

It's serious. I've worked in biotech and healthcare my entire career. The FDA is also not to be toyed with.

It’s serious stuff. One violation could easily destroy a startup or small-to-mid sizes software company.

But Uber is neither, and has a clear, repeated history of disrespecting any hard or expensive to follow laws.