Healthcare.gov is Secretly Sending Personal Information to Tracking Websites

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The Associated Press reported that Healthcare.gov is secretly sending personal information, such as zip codes, income levels, smoking status, and more to third party websites. Electronic Frontier Foundation researchers have confirmed that the government's website has sent personal health information to at least 14 different third parties, even if a user has enabled "Do Not Track". The information is sent via the referrer header (an important part of the HTTP protocol), which has the URL of the page requesting a third party resource.

As technology advances, sites like Google may actually be able to link personal health information leaked from Healthcare.gov to a unique identity. This intervention by third parties also increases the risk of Healthcare.gov having attacks and breaches.

Summary by MedicalGroups.com

To read more from Electronic Frontier Foundation click here