Blogging, internet search engines and privacy

Recently I was made aware of a few indiscretions made on social networking internet sites by people who had unwittingly written posts for online friends that breached privacy and confidentiality agreements in their places of work. It is particularly relevant to those of us working in fields where there is strict legislation. In essence we are unable to post anything that might identify anyone we work with regardless of whether details about them have been changed in an effort to maintain anonymity. Medical students were disciplined not long ago for discussing interesting cases online despite having changed the person's name (ie to Mrs S or Mr Jo Bloggs). Publishing even disguised details is a breach and therefore a cause for dismissal or expulsion - the claim is that the person being discussed might still be identified.

Given the fact that many tertiary centres use the internet and Wikis to teach students, I have to ask myself how much privacy laws are affecting teaching strategies. To lecture in a classroom using video and photographs requires the signed permission of the subject - that is understood. For that person to have their case discussed online and perhaps viewed by many people on the internet is quite different. Using case histories to illustrate an example is becoming more and more tricky as access is becoming easier and reaches more people. This then poses the question as to whether we should all just use entirely fictitious examples if we wish to illustrate a point. Does this then detract from the point we are trying to make, I wonder? Does it make a situation less real and the impact an example may have less real? Statements like "that would never happen"; "that's just not possible" could be the norm.

As the awareness of privacy increases, I regularly review how I work and what I have written. No longer do I feel comfortable writing on the blog about everyday issues that might be interesting, moving but recognisable. I have decided to remove several posts from here for this reason. 

I value privacy and respect confidentiality but when we begin having to talk in riddles and code in order to get our point across, I wonder if we have gone too far. I guess the best rule of thumb is to never discuss on the internet anything that is not appropriate for general readership. 

Comments

[nursing tank]

i love how to state and share your experience and own points of view. you have given me clearer understanding on this subject area.