By Prudence L. Gourguechon on 8/19/2009 10:25 AM
OK, I'm exaggerating. It was one guy, Albert Gonzales, all of 28 years old, and two unnamed Russians. Mr. Gonzales had previously been arrested in 2003 for computer crimes, and cooperated with Federal investigators at that time. So he was all of 22 then.
But the 130 Million is not an exaggeration. This story was reported in the Tuesday, August 18 New York Times Business Section (which I found particularly inspiring!).
What's amazing about the story is that the theft of the credit card numbers sounded easy.
What is the relevance for psychoanalysis? Easy. Computer records can be easily stolen. And they will be if they have resale value. Data has value. Electronic Medical Records, promoted as a solution to the nation's health care woes, will contain vast amounts of data, and therefore they will have cash value. It is foolish to think they wont be stolen by smart 22 year olds like Mr. Gonzales.
Psychoanalysis and psychotherapy rely on absolute privacy for their effectiveness and success. The right to private treatment, the right to opt out (without penalty) of having treatment recorded in an electronic medical records, must be preserved in any health care system. |