A targeting advertisement of "special accident injury accident law office" is distributed to the smartphone of the person in the waiting room of the emergency room

When advertisements from "law firms specializing in accidents and injuries" are displayed to people who entered the waiting room of the emergency rescue room (ER) in the United States, it is said that the American nonprofit radio networkNPRIt reports.

Lawyers Send Mobile Ads To Phones In ER Waiting Rooms: Shots - Health News: NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/05/25/613127311/digital-ambulance-chasers-law-firms-send-ads-to-patients-phones-inside-ers

Tell All Digital, based in Philadelphia, New York, USA, provides targeting advertisements called geofencing (geofencing) for medical institutions such as ER and Pain Clinic. Geo-fencing measures position data using Wi-Fi, beacon, etc. and sends specific information to the target confirmed to enter a specific area. It is used for the purpose of linking to purchasing behavior by distributing product information and coupons at retail stores and others. This geofencing advertisement, Tell All Digital is going to people in the waiting room of a medical institution.

On the American freeway (highway), a lot of signboard advertisements of "traffic accident special law firm" are issued. There are a certain number of people accidents on the highway, and most of it has been established as effective targeting advertisement since ancient times by asking lawyers to solve accidents. Geo-fencing ads by Tell All Digital consist of exactly the same logic as advertisements on expressways. People who go to a medical institution that treats injuries often need consultation with a lawyer, so if you are an advertiser's law firm you can effectively advertise to client candidates . And there are things that display advertisements of infertility clinics for people who visited facilities that adopt adoption as geofencing advertisements, which also have privacy concerns reported.


However, it is pointed out that there is a big problem with the method of utilizing privacy-related information such as hospital visits to medical institutions for advertisement. Mr. Maura Healey, Attorney General of Massachusetts states, "Individual medical data should not be used in such a way, especially in the absence of consumer knowledge and with consumer consent It is even more when it is used in a state without it, "he reveals critical views on the handling of data not considering privacy.

Also, Bill McBeugelan, an attorney at the University of Minnesota for teaching Internet law, said, "Information on health, gender, income and political thought is entirely different from information on" your favorite toothpaste brand "etc. This type of confidentiality High information should be handled at a higher level. "

According to McVegellan, under the current legal system geo fencing advertisements done by Tell All Digital etc are not illegal. Personal information protection provisions prescribed in the "HIPAA on Interoperability and Accountability of Medical Insurance" are subject to hospitals, clinics, physicians, insurance companies, and lawyers and those conducting marketing sales are not eligible That's right. As a result, new legislation and administrative guidance by the Federal Trade Commission are waiting for response to geo-fencing advertisements that may infringe privacy.

In addition, it is natural to think that advertisers dedicated to such geo-fencing advertisement are inappropriate, NPR is seeking disclosure of information on law firms and hospitals contracting against Tell All Digital, The client's information was not disclosed. In addition, although NPR requested comments on advertising to law firms specializing in injury accidents based in Philadelphia, it seems that the office they responded to was zero.