INNOVATION

The Limitations of Privacy Reform Rooted in Interest Convergence

By Margaret Foster

A year and a half ago, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the California Consumer Protection Act, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. Though the bill was simultaneously hailed as a “groundbreaking,” “extremely powerful,” “landmark law,” and criticized as a “punitive . . . mistake,” there’s no dispute that it is currently the strongest privacy law in America, garnering comparisons to the European Union’s sweeping General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Kari Paul, California’s Groundbreaking Privacy Law Takes Effect in January. What Does It Do?, The Guardian (Dec. 30, 2019); Zack Whittaker, Silicon Valley Is Terrified of California’s Privacy Law. Good., TechCrunch (Sept. 19, 2019); Natasha Singer, Group Behind California Privacy Law Aims to Strengthen It, The New York Times (Sept. 24, 2019) . . .

Smartphones and Compelled Decryption: An Interview with Attorney David Rangaviz

By David Rangaviz and Miranda Jang

Under what circumstances can a citizen be forced to unlock their smartphone for government inspection? On March 6, 2019, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Dennis Jones, in which the Court held that the government can compel a suspect to unlock their smartphone, and so disclose all of its contents, if it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect knows the passcode to the phone in question. The SJC held that the only “testimonial” aspect to an act of decryption is just the person saying that he or she knows the code to the target phone. Jones was the first decision from any state supreme court in the country to set out the constitutional rules around compelled decryption, which is one of the most significant self-incrimination issues in the digital age . . .

How the Internet and The Mapping of the Human Genome Disrupted the Teaching of Health Law: Does The 21st Century Really Change Everything?

By Jennifer S. Bard

For the symposium, I was asked to grapple with how health law teaching has been disrupted by technological innovation. On these occasions, my thoughts immediately go to the rapidly evolving expectations of privacy in the face of the ever growing breaches of cyber security in healthcare settings, the widespread access to communications technology, and the rapidly evolving technologies to establish identity and extract significant amounts of medical information from the genetic material left behind on a coffee cup . . .

Measuring Health Privacy – Part II

By Ignacio Cofone

We are pleased to present this symposium featuring commentary from participants in the Center for Health Policy and Law’s annual conference, Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations, held on April 11-12, 2019 at Northeastern University School of Law. As a note, additional detailed analyses of issues discussed during the conference will be published in the 2021 Winter Issue of the Northeastern University Law Review . . .

Measuring Health Privacy – Part I

By Ignacio Cofone

We are pleased to present this symposium featuring commentary from participants in the Center for Health Policy and Law’s annual conference, Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations, held on April 11-12, 2019 at Northeastern University School of Law. As a note, additional detailed analyses of issues discussed during the conference will be published in the 2021 Winter Issue of the Northeastern University Law Review. . .

A Delicate Balance: Proposed Regulations May Upset the Tension Between Accessibility and Privacy of Health Information

By Oliver Kim

We are pleased to present this symposium featuring commentary from participants in the Center for Health Policy and Law’s annual conference, Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations, held on April 11-12, 2019 at Northeastern University School of Law. Throughout the two-day conference, speakers and attendees discussed how innovations, including artificial intelligence, robotics, mobile technology, gene therapies, pharmaceuticals, big data analytics, tele- and virtual health care delivery, and new models of delivery, such as accountable care organizations (ACOs), retail clinics, and medical-legal partnerships (MLPs), have entered and changed the healthcare market. More dramatic innovations and market disruptions are likely in the years to come . . .

The Promises and Perils of Medical Legal Partnerships

By Jessica Mantel and Leah Fowler

We are pleased to present this symposium featuring commentary from participants in the Center for Health Policy and Law’s annual conference, Promises and Perils of Emerging Health Innovations, held on April 11-12, 2019 at Northeastern University School of Law. As a note, additional detailed analyses of issues discussed during the conference will be published in the 2021 Winter Issue of the Northeastern University Law Review. @NUSLHealth @nulawreview. . .