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Molecular Cancer Jul 2007Sovereign power is retained and shared by the citizens of a country. Using electoral tools, governing structures are formed to ensure protection of national interests....
Sovereign power is retained and shared by the citizens of a country. Using electoral tools, governing structures are formed to ensure protection of national interests. As with any institution, proper control of the government guarantees its adherence to the tasks delegated to it by its citizens. In turn, citizens have to be provided with, and are encouraged to access and evaluate, information generated by the government. On the other hand, governments generate sensitive information (e.g., intelligence, internal reports, etc) that are required for self-evaluation and defense against threats to the nation. Governments are granted a privilege to collect, store and use such information to perform necessary tasks. How far does governmental privilege go relative to the intrinsic right of citizens to access and evaluate information?
Topics: Confidentiality; Democracy; Government Agencies; Humans; Privacy; United States
PubMed: 17608934
DOI: 10.1186/1476-4598-6-43 -
Computational Intelligence and... 2022When the sports industry has access to advanced training and preparation techniques, the sports sector is entering a new era, where real-time data processing services...
When the sports industry has access to advanced training and preparation techniques, the sports sector is entering a new era, where real-time data processing services have a crucial priority in improving physical fitness and avoiding injuries to athletes. The primary sports support methodology is based on multiple sensors, mainly wearables, often of different types and technology, which collect somatometric data in real time and are usually analyzed with deep learning technologies. And while modern athletes train and prepare intelligently using the innovative techniques of available technology, there is considerable concern about the use of personal data. There is great concern about cyberattacks and possible data leaks that could affect the sports industry and sports in general. To secure the personal data of athletes collected and analyzed by sports wearables, this paper presents a privacy-preserving sports wearable data fusion framework. This is an advanced methodology based on Lagrange's relaxation method for the problem of multiple assignments and synthesis of information by numerous sensors and the use of differential privacy to access databases with personal information, ensuring that this information will remain personal without a third entity may disclose the identity of the athlete who provided the data.
Topics: Athletes; Humans; Privacy; Sports; Technology; Wearable Electronic Devices
PubMed: 35571697
DOI: 10.1155/2022/6131971 -
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision... Aug 2021Data sharing is considered a crucial part of modern medical research. Unfortunately, despite its advantages, it often faces obstacles, especially data privacy...
BACKGROUND
Data sharing is considered a crucial part of modern medical research. Unfortunately, despite its advantages, it often faces obstacles, especially data privacy challenges. As a result, various approaches and infrastructures have been developed that aim to ensure that patients and research participants remain anonymous when data is shared. However, privacy protection typically comes at a cost, e.g. restrictions regarding the types of analyses that can be performed on shared data. What is lacking is a systematization making the trade-offs taken by different approaches transparent. The aim of the work described in this paper was to develop a systematization for the degree of privacy protection provided and the trade-offs taken by different data sharing methods. Based on this contribution, we categorized popular data sharing approaches and identified research gaps by analyzing combinations of promising properties and features that are not yet supported by existing approaches.
METHODS
The systematization consists of different axes. Three axes relate to privacy protection aspects and were adopted from the popular Five Safes Framework: (1) safe data, addressing privacy at the input level, (2) safe settings, addressing privacy during shared processing, and (3) safe outputs, addressing privacy protection of analysis results. Three additional axes address the usefulness of approaches: (4) support for de-duplication, to enable the reconciliation of data belonging to the same individuals, (5) flexibility, to be able to adapt to different data analysis requirements, and (6) scalability, to maintain performance with increasing complexity of shared data or common analysis processes.
RESULTS
Using the systematization, we identified three different categories of approaches: distributed data analyses, which exchange anonymous aggregated data, secure multi-party computation protocols, which exchange encrypted data, and data enclaves, which store pooled individual-level data in secure environments for access for analysis purposes. We identified important research gaps, including a lack of approaches enabling the de-duplication of horizontally distributed data or providing a high degree of flexibility.
CONCLUSIONS
There are fundamental differences between different data sharing approaches and several gaps in their functionality that may be interesting to investigate in future work. Our systematization can make the properties of privacy-preserving data sharing infrastructures more transparent and support decision makers and regulatory authorities with a better understanding of the trade-offs taken.
Topics: Biomedical Research; Computer Security; Humans; Information Dissemination; Privacy
PubMed: 34384406
DOI: 10.1186/s12911-021-01602-x -
Frontiers in Public Health 2022Privacy protection for health data is more than simply stripping datasets of specific identifiers. Privacy protection increasingly means the application of... (Review)
Review
Privacy protection for health data is more than simply stripping datasets of specific identifiers. Privacy protection increasingly means the application of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), also known as privacy engineering. Demands for the application of PETs are not yet met with ease of use or even understanding. This paper provides a scope of the current peer-reviewed evidence regarding the practical use or adoption of various PETs for managing health data privacy. We describe the state of knowledge of PETS for the use and exchange of health data specifically and build a practical perspective on the steps needed to improve the standardization of the application of PETs for diverse uses of health data.
Topics: Computer Security; Confidentiality; Humans; Privacy
PubMed: 35372185
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.814163 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2023In the age of digitalization and big data, personal health information is a key resource for health care and clinical research. This study aimed to analyze the... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
In the age of digitalization and big data, personal health information is a key resource for health care and clinical research. This study aimed to analyze the determinants and describe the measurement of the willingness to disclose personal health information.
METHODS
The study conducted a systematic review of articles assessing willingness to share personal health information as a primary or secondary outcome. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis protocol. English and Italian peer-reviewed research articles were included with no restrictions for publication years. Findings were narratively synthesized.
RESULTS
The search strategy found 1,087 papers, 89 of which passed the screening for title and abstract and the full-text assessment.
CONCLUSION
No validated measurement tool has been developed for willingness to share personal health information. The reviewed papers measured it through surveys, interviews, and questionnaires, which were mutually incomparable. The secondary use of data was the most important determinant of willingness to share, whereas clinical and socioeconomic variables had a slight effect. The main concern discouraging data sharing was privacy, although good data anonymization and the high perceived benefits of sharing may overcome this issue.
Topics: Health Records, Personal; Privacy; Information Dissemination; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 37546309
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1213615 -
BMC Genomics Oct 2021The current and future applications of genomic data may raise ethical and privacy concerns. Processing and storing of this data introduce a risk of abuse by potential...
BACKGROUND
The current and future applications of genomic data may raise ethical and privacy concerns. Processing and storing of this data introduce a risk of abuse by potential offenders since the human genome contains sensitive personal information. For this reason, we have developed a privacy-preserving method, named Varlock providing secure storage of sequenced genomic data. We used a public set of population allele frequencies to mask the personal alleles detected in genomic reads. Each personal allele described by the public set is masked by a randomly selected population allele with respect to its frequency. Masked alleles are preserved in an encrypted confidential file that can be shared in whole or in part using public-key cryptography.
RESULTS
Our method masked the personal variants and introduced new variants detected in a personal masked genome. Alternative alleles with lower population frequency were masked and introduced more often. We performed a joint PCA analysis of personal and masked VCFs, showing that the VCFs between the two groups cannot be trivially mapped. Moreover, the method is reversible and personal alleles in specific genomic regions can be unmasked on demand.
CONCLUSION
Our method masks personal alleles within genomic reads while preserving valuable non-sensitive properties of sequenced DNA fragments for further research. Personal alleles in the desired genomic regions may be restored and shared with patients, clinics, and researchers. We suggest that the method can provide an additional security layer for storing and sharing of the raw aligned reads.
Topics: Alleles; Gene Frequency; Genome, Human; Genomics; Humans; Privacy
PubMed: 34600465
DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07996-2 -
PloS One 2022People increasingly use various technologies that enable them to ease their everyday lives in different areas. Not only wearable devices are gaining ground, but also...
People increasingly use various technologies that enable them to ease their everyday lives in different areas. Not only wearable devices are gaining ground, but also sensor-based ambient devices and systems are increasingly perceived as beneficial in supporting users. Especially older and/or frail persons can benefit from the so-called lifelogging technologies assisting the users in different activities and supporting their mobility and autonomy. This paper empirically investigates users' technology acceptance and privacy perceptions related to sensor-based applications implemented in private environments (i.e., passive infrared sensors for presence detection, humidity and temperature sensors for ambient monitoring, magnetic sensors for user-furniture interaction). For this purpose, we designed an online survey entitled "Acceptance and privacy perceptions of sensor-based lifelogging technologies" and collected data from N = 312 German adults. In terms of user acceptance, statistical analyses revealed that participants strongly agree on the benefits of such sensor-based ambient technologies, also perceiving these as useful and easy to use. Nevertheless, their intention to use the sensor-based applications was still rather limited. The evaluation of privacy perceptions showed that participants highly value their privacy and hence require a high degree of protection for their personal data. The potential users assessed the collection of data especially in the most intimate spaces of domestic environments, such as bathrooms and bedrooms, as critical. On the other hand, participants were also willing to provide complete data transparency in case of an acute risk to their health. Our results suggest that users' perceptions of personal privacy largely affect the acceptance and successful adoption of sensor-based lifelogging in home environments.
Topics: Adult; Ambient Intelligence; Humans; Perception; Privacy; Technology; Wearable Electronic Devices
PubMed: 35789340
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269642 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Nov 2021Fitness trackers allow users to collect, manage, track, and monitor fitness-related activities, such as distance walked, calorie intake, sleep quality, and heart rate.... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
BACKGROUND
Fitness trackers allow users to collect, manage, track, and monitor fitness-related activities, such as distance walked, calorie intake, sleep quality, and heart rate. Fitness trackers have become increasingly popular in the past decade. One in five Americans use a device or an app to track their fitness-related activities. These devices generate massive and important data that could help physicians make better assessments of their patients' health if shared with health providers. This ultimately could lead to better health outcomes and perhaps even lower costs for patients. However, sharing personal fitness information with health care providers has drawbacks, mainly related to the risk of privacy loss and information misuse.
OBJECTIVE
This study investigates the influence of granting users granular privacy control on their willingness to share fitness information.
METHODS
The study used 270 valid responses collected from Mtrurkers through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The conceptual model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The dependent variable was the intention to share fitness information. The independent variables were perceived risk, perceived benefits, and trust in the system.
RESULTS
SEM explained about 60% of the variance in the dependent variable. Three of the four hypotheses were supported. Perceived risk and trust in the system had a significant relationship with the dependent variable, while trust in the system was not significant.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings show that people are willing to share their fitness information if they have granular privacy control. This study has practical and theoretical implications. It integrates communication privacy management (CPM) theory with the privacy calculus model.
Topics: Exercise; Fitness Trackers; Humans; Intention; Privacy; Trust
PubMed: 34783672
DOI: 10.2196/23059 -
Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 2021The advent of mobile applications for health and medicine will revolutionize travel medicine. Despite their many benefits, such as access to real-time data, mobile apps... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The advent of mobile applications for health and medicine will revolutionize travel medicine. Despite their many benefits, such as access to real-time data, mobile apps for travel medicine are accompanied by many ethical issues, including questions about security and privacy.
METHODS
A systematic literature review as conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Database screening yielded 1795 results and seven papers satisfied the criteria for inclusion. Through a mix of inductive and deductive data extraction, this systematic review examined both the benefits and challenges, as well as ethical considerations, of mobile apps for travel medicine.
RESULTS
Ethical considerations were discussed with varying depth across the included articles, with privacy and data protection mentioned most frequently, highlighting concerns over sensitive information and a lack of guidelines in the digital sphere. Additionally, technical concerns about data quality and bias were predominant issues for researchers and developers alike. Some ethical issues were not discussed at all, including equity, and user involvement.
CONCLUSION
This paper highlights the scarcity of discussion around ethical issues. Both researchers and developers need to better integrate ethical reflection at each step of the development and use of health apps. More effective oversight mechanisms and clearer ethical guidance are needed to guide the stakeholders in this endeavour.
Topics: Humans; Mobile Applications; Privacy; Travel Medicine
PubMed: 34256131
DOI: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2021.102143 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) May 2022With the rapid growth in healthcare demand, an emergent, novel technology called wireless body area networks (WBANs) have become promising and have been widely used in... (Review)
Review
With the rapid growth in healthcare demand, an emergent, novel technology called wireless body area networks (WBANs) have become promising and have been widely used in the field of human health monitoring. A WBAN can collect human physical parameters through the medical sensors in or around the patient's body to realize real-time continuous remote monitoring. Compared to other wireless transmission technologies, a WBAN has more stringent technical requirements and challenges in terms of power efficiency, security and privacy, quality of service and other specifications. In this paper, we review the recent WBAN medical applications, existing requirements and challenges and their solutions. We conducted a comprehensive investigation of WBANs, from the sensor technology for the collection to the wireless transmission technology for the transmission process, such as frequency bands, channel models, medium access control (MAC) and networking protocols. Then we reviewed its unique safety and energy consumption issues. In particular, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)-based WBAN scheme is presented to improve its security and privacy and achieve ultra-low energy consumption.
Topics: Computer Communication Networks; Humans; Privacy; Technology; Wireless Technology
PubMed: 35591234
DOI: 10.3390/s22093539