Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday September 12 2017, @03:21AM   Printer-friendly
from the another-brick-in-the-wall dept.

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

How private are your medical records? You'd think they'd be pretty damn private, considering Congress specifically passed a law regulating the disclosure of these sensitive records. Some states feel the same way, extending even greater privacy protections to things like prescription records.

[...] Seems pretty locked down, but as Leslie Francis and John Francis point out at the Oxford University Press blog, federal law enforcement agencies have undone both Congressional protections and state protections.

Utah's requirement for a warrant conflicts with the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), which permits the DEA to issue administrative subpoenas for information relating to individuals suspected of violations of the CSA. According to a US Department of Justice report, administrative subpoenas may be issued by the agency without judicial oversight and without the showing of probable cause that would be required for a warrant.

When states provide more protections to residents than the federal government's willing to grant, it's often the state laws that lose, especially when controlled substances are involved. Such is the case here, at least so far. The DEA demanded the release of patient info/prescription records without a warrant, something forbidden by Utah law. The state objected to the DEA's records demand. The DEA responded by flexing its considerable federal muscle.

The DEA countered with the Supremacy Clause: valid federal laws are superior to conflicting state laws.

The court ended up agreeing with the DEA: patient info and prescription records aren't afforded additional privacy protections, no matter what HIPAA/state laws have to say about the matter.

Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170903/13310738148/thanks-to-dea-drug-war-your-prescription-records-have-zero-expectation-privacy.shtml


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:15PM (11 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:15PM (#566923) Journal

    What option do you propose?

    Vote out the incumbent factions (there is only one party). The power is in your vote, not in the banker's money. Gerrymandering be damned, its a bullshit excuse. If ya can't be arsed, well, don't go blaming anybody else.

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:28PM (10 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:28PM (#566990)

    Vote out the incumbent factions

    Nope, doesn't work. I cannot vote out anyone, and as I mentioned before, the voting game is rigged. Voting actually harms the victims of government criminality as it lends credibility to the scam.

    Care to come up with a real answer, rather than just virtue signalling?

    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:29PM (9 children)

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:29PM (#567009) Journal

      Fine, continue your blame passing then. Just stop crying about it. You're just following Clinton's example from her book. It really is quite tiresome. You people are the ones doing the rigging by playing along.

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:14AM (8 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:14AM (#567083)

        You people are the ones doing the rigging by playing along.

        So, you tell others to "do something!", by which you mean "vote", and voting is a rigged suckers' game where only establishment players win, and when that is pointed out, you blame the victim. Nice.

        I suggest striking at the root using the last functional and peaceful option left: refuse to fund the criminal government. Fully 75%+ of the US federal budget comes from personal income taxes. You can control this to a certain extent by increasing the number of claimed exemptions on a W-4 to an arbitrary number (which doesn't affect FICA/social security, which just get added to the fedgov's yearly general fund), or you could generate income without working for a boss who will help the fedgov fund itself by stealing from workers' paychecks.

        It sure beats futile whining and victim-blaming.

        • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by fustakrakich on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:39AM (7 children)

          by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:39AM (#567089) Journal

          voting is a rigged suckers' game where only establishment players win, and when that is pointed out, you blame the victim.

          Ugh! I wish you could hear yourself. "Poor poor pitiful me! The whole world is against me!" You just can't stop playing the victim. Really, quit your whining! Your problems are self inflicted. "Establishment players" win with your votes. They can't do it without you. There is no one else to blame. But at this point I figure you're just trolling, so hasta lumbago, babe. Go off and cry by yourself in the corner somewhere.

          Oh, and see how far you get trying to put your harem on your W-4. Let me know how that works out for ya

          --
          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @12:45PM (6 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @12:45PM (#567195)

            Having had your bluff called, all you seem to have left is repetition of your falsified assertion. (The last time I was at the polls, I voted against every single incumbent. They all won re-election.) Amusingly, when a doubly-practical course of action was presented to you, you ignorantly mock it.

            Five years ago, I changed my W-4 exemptions to ~40. It's a number on a form with no other names attached to said exemptions, and used for the primary purpose of calculating how much money is automatically taken by the IRS. With a high enough number of exemptions, the amount taken drops to zero (again, except for FICA). Before doing so, I took the obvious precautions of having no real estate listed in my name, minimum balances in bank accounts, prepared to change jobs to defend against paycheck garnishments, and then cut all contact with the IRS. Not a peep from the IRS, although the amount of broadcast advertisements targeted at those who "owe the IRS money" I've begun to notice strongly suggests I am far from alone in my chosen course of action. Again, FULLY 75%+ of the US federal budget comes from personal (not corporate) income taxes. If you have not likewise done this, YOU are fueling the criminality in government.

            Sure beats impotently voting and then blaming voters when "throwing the rascals out" doesn't work [goodreads.com].

            • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday September 13 2017, @04:58PM (5 children)

              by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday September 13 2017, @04:58PM (#567285) Journal

              "throwing the rascals out" doesn't work.

              Spellbound, blinded, and so easily convinced by pithy quotes...

              You'll never know until you try, but it seems you're not interested in making even the feeblest of efforts. Complaining is so much easier. As a perfect example of why we are in this predicament, you have been very enlightening. You, amongst many others, are confirmation the problem is psychological, not political. Learned helplessness is a real thing. So, by all means carry on following everybody over the cliff. You have lots of good company. I fully understand how strong the herding instinct is.

              Heh, living on the run, eh? I am interested to see how long you can hide from the IRS while making false statement on their forms. I hope you never get tired of looking over your shoulder and can afford a good lawyer.

              Oh well, the scores are in, you win the internet. Good day, sir...

              --
              La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @09:59PM (4 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @09:59PM (#567496)

                it seems you're not interested in making even the feeblest of efforts

                Considering I gave anecdotes [soylentnews.org] to the contrary that you didn't even read, I'd say projection is the order of the day for you.

                I hope you never get tired of looking over your shoulder

                I see. You're not interested in actually trying to solve the problem of criminal government, but you are more than happy to be a crab trying to pull an escapee back into the pot.

                • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday September 13 2017, @10:07PM (3 children)

                  by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday September 13 2017, @10:07PM (#567500) Journal

                  I said good day,sir! [youtube.com]

                  --
                  La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                  • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @10:21PM (2 children)

                    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @10:21PM (#567508)

                    Does getting in the last word (albeit by posting a meme instead of a word of your own) substitute for an argument in your world? I'm curious, as I'd prefer insight into the mind of someone who presents as someone encouraging solutions to the problem of literally-criminal government, and yet later cheerleads [soylentnews.org] for that same criminal government!

                    Are you upset that I revealed that your actions are contributing to the very problems you mentioned when starting this thread [soylentnews.org]? Are you simply deathly afraid of the IRS? Do you disagree with my assertions personal income tax revenues [nationalpriorities.org] are the Achilles Heel of criminal federal government [cbpp.org] (especially considering the employee's salary suffers to pay for "employer-paid" portions of income taxes)?

                    Are you just upset that you seem a lot less insightful when pressed for substance?

                    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday September 13 2017, @10:26PM (1 child)

                      by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday September 13 2017, @10:26PM (#567510) Journal

                      You're that APK guy from over at slashdot, aren't you?

                      Whatever, by all means, you are more than welcome to the *last word*... toodles

                      --
                      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
                      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @10:36PM

                        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @10:36PM (#567514)

                        So, you don't have any answers to my questions? Your primary thrust that PEOPLE DO SOMETHING turns out to be nothing but vapid hot air, and ultimately support for the very thing you labelled as a problem in the first place? You're content to fart around the room like a punctured balloon rather than respond with substance to my thin but well-supported barb?