Friedman Ari B, Pathmanabhan Chris, Glicksman Allen, Demiris George, Cappola Anne R, McCoy Matthew S
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2022 Apr 21;8:23337214221095705. doi: 10.1177/23337214221095705. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.
The rise in online health information seeking among older adults promises significant benefits but also presents potentially serious privacy risks. In light of these risks, we argue that ongoing research and advocacy aimed at promoting online health information seeking among older adults must be coupled with efforts to identify and address threats to their online privacy. We first detail how internet users reveal sensitive health information to third parties through seemingly innocuous web browsing. We then describe ethical concerns raised by the inadvertent disclosure of health information, which include the potential for dignitary harms, subjective injuries, online health scams, and discrimination. After reviewing ways in which existing privacy laws fail to meet the needs of older adults, we provide recommendations for individual and collective action to protect the online privacy of older adults.
老年人在线寻求健康信息的增加有望带来显著益处，但也存在潜在的严重隐私风险。鉴于这些风险，我们认为，旨在促进老年人在线寻求健康信息的 ongoing 研究和宣传必须与识别和应对其在线隐私威胁的努力相结合。我们首先详细说明互联网用户如何通过看似无害的网页浏览向第三方透露敏感健康信息。然后，我们描述了健康信息无意泄露引发的伦理问题，包括尊严伤害、主观伤害、在线健康诈骗和歧视的可能性。在审视现有隐私法未能满足老年人需求的方式后，我们为保护老年人在线隐私的个人和集体行动提供了建议。
