Despite backlash, SOPA, PIPA give healthcare execs something to think about

Two controversial copyright enforcement bills are struggling to stay afloat in Washington, facing a strong storm of protest from Web companies and users. The bills – the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act – may have focused on popular Internet resources like Google and Reddit, but their impact on the rapidly growing mobile healthcare industry can’t be overlooked.

“Whether SOPA or PIPA ever actually become law is in many ways not the core issue, especially for the mobile healthcare industry,” said Geoff Webb, director of product marketing for Credant Technologies, an Addison, Texas-based developer of data protection tools. “The real problem, demonstrated by these laws, is that it is important to consider who you will be sharing cloud services with. This changes the risks for healthcare providers because unlike a traditional approach where information stays within the organization, the combination of mobile computing devices and cloud services now means that risks to data are extremely difficult to predict, and may change rapidly. Sharing a cloud storage service with an organization that is, for example, conducting illegal activities may mean your information gets swept up in a law enforcement operation (such as recently happened with Megaupload).”

“SOPA and PIPA are symptoms of a broader lack of control over content as it moves out into the Internet, and while the recording and movie industry have to worry about lost revenue, healthcare organizations need to be focused on protecting information at all times, on mobile devices, on PCs, and in the cloud, because for them the results of unmanaged data transfer can be far more serious,” he added.

Just weeks ago, with the backing of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Recording Industry Association of America and the MPAA, Congressional passage of both SOPA and PIPA seemed like a done deal, but the negative backlash by Internet users – culminating in a one-day blackout last week of an estimated 50,000 websites, involving some 13 million people – caught most of Washington by surprise. Supporters estimate 3 million e-mail messages were sent to Congress during the protest.

Since then, dozens of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have abandoned the bills and/or voiced their opposition. A cloture vote on PIPA in the Senate has been delayed as lawmakers seek a compromise, while Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the lead SOPA sponsor in the House, has killed his bill.

“Healthcare companies, wishing to take full advantage of the revolution in mobile and cloud computing, must carefully think through both how to enable rapid data movement and accessibility, and put that hand in hand with strong security and privacy controls, and enforced data life-cycle management if they want to avoid expensive and very public incidents,” Webb said.
 

Eric Wicklund

Editor of mHIMSS.org

Follow Eric on Twitter @eriwick