Advocacy groups Center for Digital Democracy, U.S. PIRG, Consumer Watchdog, and the World Privacy Forum have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission asking it to investigate what they call "unfair and deceptive" advertising and data gathering practices at online health information and service sites.
Much of the online health marketing system, the groups say, has been deliberately structured to collect personal information and other data on consumers. Specifically, the complaint says, some sites and marketers practice medical "condition targeting," focusing on such illnesses as depression, COPD, diabetes, and asthma. They also eavesdrop on online discussions of health consumers via social media data mining. The use of viral and "word-of-mouth" techniques online to drive interest in prescriptions, over-the counter drugs, and health remedies was also targeted in the complaint as was the use of "unbranded" websites and video channels to promote connections to pharmaceutical brands.
Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, WebMD, Quality Health, Everyday Health, and Health Central were among the companies named in the complaint.
Beyond the Sites
The issue, in fact, goes beyond just marketing tactics, the New York Times notes in an article about the suit - and touches on an issue of concern to most adult Americans: health insurance.
The concern, Ed Mierzwinski, the consumer program director at U.S. PIRG, told the Times, is not just about data mining and marketing aimed at influencing patients to seek out certain branded drugs. More broadly, he said, employers or health insurers could gain access to these profiles, which would then result in potential problems or penalties against the consumer.
The use of marketing and social media data by life and health insurance companies to make underwriting decisions could well be the tipping point for greater legislative control over such activities. In early December, the House subcommittee for commerce, trade, and consumer protection will hold a hearing on Internet privacy, with a focus on a Do Not Track registry.
One possible angle that could arise is this very topic - especially as stories continue to surface that insurance companies are indeed using this data. The U.S. arm of British insurer Aviva recently vetted 60,000 recent life insurance applicants to determine if they were suitable risks using online social media data, according to the Wall Street Journal. This data ranged from shopping details, catalog purchases, magazine subscriptions, leisure activities and information from social-networking sites.
Such a use, however raises questions whether the data would be subject to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, says Rebecca Kuehn of the Federal Trade Commission's division of privacy and identity protection via the Journal. When an "adverse action" is taken against a person, such as a decision to deny insurance or increase rates, those regulations would automatically kick in, she explained.
