I thought some folks here may find this article interesting.?ÿ
Viewing website HTML code is not illegal or ??hacking,? prof. tells Missouri gov.
Out of curiosity I looked up Governor Parson who I had never heard of, nor knew anything about. Looks like he is not that educated. Sometimes there is value to education.?ÿ
Yeah, Missouri...
It might be a tough sell to the courts in light of this:?ÿ Biden White House website has secret job offer for tech workers (cnbc.com) ?ÿ
Back about a year ago when my wife's health was declining daily, I got an email from a nearby research university. One of her doctors was an employee of their practice system and they had mined his records (these researchers consider all records in any of their systems to be theirs) offering her participation in a clinical trial for which she was unable and unsuited for.
I clicked on the link and explored the HTML code. Low and behold, down in the code was her medical record number, her MRN in clinical research-speak. Now that number is sacrosanct, protected by federal law, and to be revealed to no one by nobody. On top of that, such electronic recruiting is allowed only when there is no other viable way for researchers to get subjects. In our personal case, any references to my wife's health from the outside upset her tremendously.
There followed an angry and heated exchange with the principal investigator, who always wants to remain above the fray, and the head of the organization's Internal Review Board (IRB) who always wants to remain above everything and just cash the checks. As I recall there was an accusation aimed at "the little bearded guy in the Mickey Mouse t-shirt who wrote the code" (sorry, Wendell). Turns out that he's a PhD at another highly-regarded research institution who may or may not wear Mickey Mouse t-shirts or be bearded. In my book, though, he's a dufus.
Mind you, I'm not against clinical research; I worked in the field for 4 years where I helped individual doctors mine their own computer records for clinical clues and trials opportunities. The doctor-patient relationship was never broken.
Long story, but if I'm guilty of hacking, then take me away, but look over the shoulder of every kitchen-table analyst in the US. Just sayin', there may be others.
Rant over; I feel much better.
Carry on.
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Neat story about the White House recruiting. Hadn't heard that.?ÿ
Sorry about your wife's case.?ÿ Two unacceptable practices - sharing her info without her knowledge and the security flaw in the system. I hope they have improved their practices since then.?ÿ
In the Missouri case, I think a simple we made a mistake, we fixed it, and thank you, would have made it less of a story.?ÿ
