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Virginia Tech Report Cites Privacy Law Problems

Posted by samzenpus on from the pass-the-buck dept.

RickRussellTX writes "A panel of Bush administration officials, including several bureau chiefs, concludes that confusing privacy laws contributed to the Virgina Tech shootings. The report claims that confusion over student privacy and medical privacy laws "has limited the ability of these officials to prevent the kind of violence that occurred at Virginia Tech.""

8 of 381 comments (clear)

  1. Is it just me by JamesRose · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or Does that translate as "We're going to review privacy policy" which is bush talk for "We're going to remove any of your rights to privacy under the name of virginia tech and anyone who complaigns is helping the murderers. Just a thought.

    I know I'm being very pessimistic, but it's necessary with this goverment, they removed my rights to be anything else.

  2. Chris Rock makes more sense than this by Seiruu · · Score: 5, Funny
    Chris Rock: Bigger & Blacker (1999) (TV)

    Chris Rock: [On the US school shootings] Everybody is wanting to know what music were the kids listening to, or what movies were they watching. Who gives a fuck what they was watching! Whatever happened to crazy? What, you can't be crazy no more? Should we eliminate crazy from the dictionary?

    Chris Rock: Everybody is talking about gun control. Got to control the guns. Fuck, that, I like guns. If you've got a gun, you don't need to work out! Cause, I ain't working out. I ain't jogging. No, I think we need some bullet control. I think every bullet should cost five thousand dollars. Five thousand dollars for a bullet. Know why? Cos if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, there'd be no more innocent by-standers. That'd be it. Some guy'd be shot you'd be all 'Damn, he must've done something, he's got fifty thousand dollars worth of bullets in his ass!' And people'd think before they shot someone 'Man I will blow your fucking head off, if I could afford it. I'm gonna get me a second job, start saving up, and you a dead man. You'd better hope I don't get no bullets on lay-away!' And even if you get shot you wouldn't need to go to the emergency room. Whoever shot you'd take their bullet back. 'I believe you got my property?'
  3. Re:Privacy shcmivacy by Affenkopf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No. Free circulation of guns contributed to the Virgina Tech shootings. These kind of things just don't happen in countries that have sane gun laws, privacy laws or not.


    Really?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_massacre
    Blaiming guns for crazy people is just as wrong as blaming privacy laws.
  4. Privacy law problems?? by olden · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Agreed. Blaming, even partially, "privacy laws" for this massacre is just plain dishonest.
    (if anything, the problem with privacy laws is that they're facing extinction)

    Snippets from a news report written shortly after the tragedy:
    "A medical examination found that (...) [Cho's] insight and judgment are normal"
    "Although Cho's writings were disturbing, mental health professionals say the student's behavior didn't reach the threshold that would have demanded more aggressive intervention."
    "You can't do anything unless there's imminent risk that's somewhat foreseeable to take away someone's civil rights"
    (source: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/student.counselin g/ )

    Seems clear to me that no sharing of medical information with law enforcement would have helped here.

  5. Re:prevent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You really want to stop something like this? How about actually stepping in when you see somebody picking on someone they perceive as "different"? How about forcing schools to mete out real punishment for bullying? How about trying to reach out to those who get picked on?

    I'm not condoning Cho's actions, but you know something that both Cho and the Columbine shooters had in common? They all were picked on by popular kids so the kids could feel better about themselves, and the schools either explicitly or implicitly condoned this behavior. I used to be picked on all the time in elementary and middle school(fortunately in my own high school those immature people who did that were crowded out by more mature people, but I realize this is the exception rather than the rule) and you know what, it really, really sucked. Not to mention I was going through a lot of other problems, much like Cho was. Most people find creative outlets for their pent up anger, but some cannot. The best thing is to make them realize that the world isn't full of arrogant assholes, but alas this is America, where the arrogant assholes reign supreme(look at the White House and most board rooms)....

  6. Nope, not just you: Re:Is it just me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or Does that translate as "We're going to review privacy policy" which is bush talk for "We're going to remove any of your rights to privacy under the name of virginia tech and anyone who complaigns is helping the murderers. Just a thought.

    I know I'm being very pessimistic, but it's necessary with this goverment, they removed my rights to be anything else.


    Actually, you have it pretty close. It is House, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and other working on a bill in the house to collect medical/mental health records of ALL people, not just gun owners.
    see http://tinyurl.com/23cgqn

    Under the bill, states voluntarily participating in the system would have to file an audit with the U.S. attorney general of all the criminal cases, mental health adjudications and court-ordered drug treatments


    Yup, a nice large federal database of anyone who has ever had a mental health issue.
    So now anyone with a mental health issue who needs help will be forever in a federal database. This will only DISCOURAGE people who need help from seeking treatment.
    How will this make us safer??????

    PLEASE please please call your congress critter and let them know you appose this...
    This is about your rights, stand up for them.
    Thank you

  7. Confused, or looking for a power grab? by davidwr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Were the laws really unclear, or were they just "inadequate?"

    It's one thing if the laws are unclear or ambiguous. Clarify them so the original intent is clear.

    On the other hand if you are trying to "close loopholes" remember those "loopholes" are there for a reason.

    If a few dozen deaths every few years is the price for medical privacy for the millions who have mental illnesses, it's worth it.

    To put things in perspective, many more people are killed each year by drunk drivers, yet there's no move to ban recovering alcoholics from driving. As any AA member will tell you, tomorrow could be the day they fall off the wagon.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  8. Re:Slashdot Asplode by bwalling · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tell me again why "personal" information should not be "free" as in speech?
    Because we have a right to privacy. It's real and it serves a real purpose. In case you missed history, people in power have a strong tendency to abuse that power and the population needs means to protect themselves from that. It's the reason we were given the right to have guns. It's the reason the government can't just collect private information and go trolling through it at will. We've been lucky so far in that the courts don't seem nearly as crazy as the politicians. Sometimes the courts are crazy, but the politicians are crazy pretty much all the time.