ABSTRACT
The importance of protecting the privacy of medical information is not a new concept; it has been recognised since the time of Hippocrates. Recently, however, public concern about this subject appears to have grown, with medical privacy emerging as an important political and social issue. In part, this is attributable to the dramatic increase in the capacity of computers to store and share information, as well as the advances in medical knowledge that have increased the amount, diversity and intimacy of information collected for healthcare, and what that information can reveal. There has also been an increase in the number of people and organisations involved in providing care to a single individual, resulting in a significant amount of legitimate data-sharing. In the modem world it is almost impossible to calculate the amount of information held about an individual, let alone determine how it is used and secured.
