On Taking the Data?

Posted by Cliff on Tuesday March 11, 2003 @08:00PM from the expediency-vs-ethics-and-privacy dept.

Anonymous for the Moment asks: "While working in a grant-paid position in a big University, I had access to massive amounts of administrative health data. I was repeatedly, over the course of months, told to take data and not tell the people who were in charge of it that I had it (which is a big no-no). I informed the people who held the data, but they were mostly non-responsive, and I figured this was because they would get in trouble with the province and the people who's records they were keeping. I finally blew the whistle to the Ethics Committee, but it has been over six months, and they too have not responded. I am wondering how long I should wait before going to the media and letting the people of the province know that their data is not being treated with respect. Has anyone else had an experience where they were told to access other's data without permission? I am aware of others at my University who have been put in similar situations, but is it just my University, or is it more widespread than that?"

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