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Buried In the Healthcare.gov Source: "No Expectation of Privacy"

Posted by timothy on from the just-initial-here-and-here-and-here-and-here dept.

realized writes "The Obamacare website Healthcare.gov has a hidden terms of service that is not shown to people when they sign up. The hidden terms, only viewable if you 'view source' on the site, says that the user has 'no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system.' Sadly, the taxpayer-funded website still does not work for most people, so it's hard to confirm – though when it's fixed in two months, we should finally be able to see it." Note: As the article points out, that phrasing is "not visible to users and obviously not intended as part of the terms and conditions." So users shouldn't worry that they've actually, accidentally agreed to any terms more onerous than the ones they can read on the signup page, but it's an interesting inclusion. What's the last EULA you read thoroughly?

17 of 365 comments (clear)

  1. How do we get Congress to sign up? by WillAdams · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I want legislation limiting their healthcare and other benefits to those which are available to the general public.

    --
    Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
    1. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by jerpyro · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sadly, I think a lot of people want a lot of things from Congress right now.

    2. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by mjr167 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not only that, vote against anyone with a R or D by their name

    3. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1, Insightful

      We had a healthcare system that worked fine for everyone that could afford it. But that wasn't good enough for Liberals, so they created a new system that doesn't work for anyone, except those that cannot afford it. This is the problem with Liberals and Leftists. They have no idea what the unintended consequences are, only focusing on the poor people while ignoring the 60% of the people in the middle, screwing them every which way they can. They talk a good game, and people believe the "Yes We Can" sloganeering, which is why they keep getting elected.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    4. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by roccomaglio · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I'd like a few things FOR Congress. Tar and Feathers come to mind, for starters. . . .

      This website was created by the Affordable Care Act, which is commonly known as Obamacare. It is considered Obama's signature legislative achievement. How are you blaming Congress, yet ignoring President Obama's involvement?

    5. Re: How do we get Congress to sign up? by paiute · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Rather than paying $300,000, you and your wife would have had to come to terms that her time on Earth was now limited because you simply were not rich enough. Happens every day on this planet.

      ...in the Third World and the United States.

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    6. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by Dishevel · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Obama did not write it. He has no idea what is in it.

      Congress had to pass it before they could figure out what it meant. This was written by lobbyists and bureaucrats each piece designed to make money for some individual company with no regard to what it means on the whole.

      Every congress critter that votes on any piece of legislation that they do not understand should be thrown of of their position. After they are raped and killed. Any law that can not be understood by someone without a law degree in 20 minutes should be null and void. Complicated laws are always wrong.

      And fuck every piece of shit that has said "Their ought to be a law" in the last 50 years.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    7. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by Frobnicator · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Are you sure? The harder they fail at fixing the current mess, the harder it'll be for them to get hired afterwards. Nothing disillusions the supporters of a broken system like its colossal, unmitigated, blatant failure.

      In total agreement.

      Both sides are constantly blaming the other for the deadlock in Congress. They haven't passed a budget since April 2009. That is one of the things the Constitution requires them to do, and they haven't done their job in almost five years.

      Both sides blame the other. And both sides are right. It is like the expression "No individual raindrop believes it caused the flood."

      Just like the raindrops, it isn't an individual drip that caused it, it is ALL of them together. Even the ones that are trying to make it better, they still bear some responsibility for the problems. Because ALL of them are responsible, ALL of them should be fired. Many people say "Not my congresspeople, they represent my views!" No. All of them contributed to the mess, ALL of them should go.

      I don't want to see things fail. I would much prefer to be watching a colossal success and the establishment of policies that the entire world holds up as monuments to human achievement. Instead we are watching doomsday debt clocks, there are discussions about global economic collapse, and millions of people wonder about losing their livelihood. I don't like watching things fail, but if they do fail, I hope it fails in such a way that people will again seize control of government, rather than letting government seize them. The best failures are the ones that lead to change and future success.

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      //TODO: Think of witty sig statement
    8. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by dosilegecko · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Your views on this government really align with mine, I thought I was the only one who thought this way. There should be no such thing as career politicians. They are exactly what is wrong with this country. Obamacare is also a train wreck for small businesses. I have seen this first hand.

    9. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by nightsky30 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Obama did not write it. He has no idea what is in it.

      And yet he signed the bill. I think every person that had some part in the passing of that bill is equally responsible. There should be more responsibility, integrity, and intelligence in the creation of new laws.

    10. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by LordLimecat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Obama signed it. Its his constitutional responsibility to know whats in it.

      Sorry, Im not buying that he rallied for it and signed it but had no idea what was in it.

    11. Re:How do we get Congress to sign up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And yet, before Obama became president, we didn't seem to have problems passing budgets. At what point is pragmatism going to reemerge? At some point people will recognize that there's a common denominator underlying all these problems.

      The Republicans? If you recall the Republicans did the same thing they are doing now when Clinton was president. Since Reagan their M.O. has been to spend and borrow recklessly while they have control of the White House and oppose everything when the Dems have the White House.

  2. EULA Translation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Practically every EULA is just complicated legalese for one simple sentence: "Fuck you fucking fuckers!"

  3. Re:Stop pushing the bogus 643 million $ number by P-niiice · · Score: 2, Insightful

    welp, fox news as "news source" hyuck hyuck

  4. let me translate that by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication or data transiting or stored on this information system" translated into HIPAA means "lol this website is completely illegal."

  5. Re:Cut & Paste by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 1, Insightful

    You mean right-wingers have deliberately taken something out of context so they can have a three minute hate? I don't think that has ever happened before.

  6. Re:designed to obfuscate actual prices of plans by wile_e_wonka · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm pretty sure I'm not eligible for subsidies. But the system for figuring it out is a joke. It asks if I have any tax deductions such as student loan interest. So, I pulled out my tax return and put in practically every deduction. It isn't clear which deductions are eligible to be deducted.

    Even so, between my income and my wife's I'm almost certainly not eligible for any subsidies based on the information I provided. So, for those of us whose self-input information indicates $0 subsidy, why not just let us see the price? It can't possibly be worse than my holy-fraking-expensive plan available through my employer.

    So, I agree that they've set it up backward, and should take people's word on showing prices and just say "eligibility for reduced prices will be confirmed prior to purchase." But even with the current backward system, there is no reason that the unsubsidized prices shouldn't be shown for those of us whose information indicates that we aren't eligible for a subsidy.