Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and WhatsApp’s Founders

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by chime on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @01:56PM (#17240281)

Not to defend FB on this but I can see them doing this defensively. I've seen doctors offices using FB to keep patients updated with their activities (free 'Healthy Eating' seminar), which has unintentionally been used to sent messages like 'Hey Doc needs to reschedule your colonoscopy appointment'. I'm sure FB doesn't want to get involved with indirect HIPAA violations, even if the fault lies elsewhere.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by satsuma on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @02:18PM (#17240513)

wouldn't using facebook be a hipaa violation in and of itself? doesn't information like that need to be contained to pre-approved, secure methods?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by zaphod12 on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @03:14PM (#17241020)

oh lord yes...like a monstrous, you need to be fired one. You can't put phi on any electronic system which you do not have a signed business associate agreement with. I suppose there's a chance that FB signed a baa, in which case this would be their problem, but it seems pretty unlikely to me.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by ben_w on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @02:34PM (#17240669)

IANAL, but there is a legal concept of ‘Joint And Several Liability’ — it might be the case that Facebook and the doctor were in violation.

Or it might have been just the doctor until someone complained and from that point on just the fact that Facebook knew about it might make them suddenly and automatically liable for further bad behaviour.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by tedunangst on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @03:26PM (#17241148)

Are there any examples of service providers being liable for such communications?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by ben_w on Wednesday June 06, 2018 @06:27PM (#17251638)

I wouldn’t know where to look for an answer.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by tripzilch on Thursday June 07, 2018 @10:41AM (#17256128)

The EU, probably.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by kbenson on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @04:55PM (#17241952)

I think perhaps what's being described is akin to a bulletin board with fliers outside the doctors office, with general advice to the public, not specific directed advice to a patient about their specific health issues. I'm not sure that falls afoul of HIPAA, I would imagine it doesn't since it's not specific at all.

At the same time, that also makes it irrelevant to the point at hand, since it's not Facebook messenger at all, just general health posts and items offered by that medical group.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by acjohnson55 on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @04:41PM (#17241833)

An easy solution would be to offer a "no preview" flag. But this also doesn't make sense because presumably the person's email account (where the preview would appear) is as private as their messenger. People who don't want to send info in email tend to send links to a secure portal, which they could do just as well in Messenger, preview or not.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by kuhhk on Tuesday June 05, 2018 @03:31PM (#17241206)

Wouldn't that be on the doctor, and not Facebook (assuming their ToS says not to use it for that stuff).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Behind the Messy, Expensive Split Between Facebook and Wh... by yndoendo on Wednesday June 06, 2018 @04:25PM (#17250800)

Last time I checked, ToS had nothing about HIPAA. I even contacted them, wouldn't answer if they where HIPAA compliant or not. Wanted to know, just in case a doctor ever talks about communicating through them.

Any one that does communicate through them with their doctor, most likely doesn't know what HIPAA is or care.

To FB, it is the old "don't ask or tell" scenario.

[ Parent | on HN ]