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stretch611 writes:

NPR reports: Law Firms Send Ads To Patients' Phones Inside ERs

Most consumers realize that their phones are basically a tracking device, says Bill McGeveran, an attorney who teaches Internet and technology law at the University of Minnesota. It is one thing to feel targeted in a grocery store, he says, but it feels far more intrusive when it creeps into other parts of daily life.

Geofencing, or placing a digital perimeter around a specific location, has been deployed by retailers for years to offer coupons and special offers to customers as they shop. Bringing it into health care spaces, however, is raising alarm among privacy experts.

Lawyers are now using the technology to send ads targeting people sitting in hospitals, chiropractors, and pain clinics. Once someone crosses the digital fence the ads can show up for more than a month — and on multiple devices.

Is it legal? For the most part, yes... HIPAA applies to hospitals and clinics and doctors and insurance companies, not to the lawyers and the marketers working on their behalf. However, the Massachusetts AG has successfully gone after this type of marketing before.

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