8 replies
April 1

Jonathon_Payne

The fact that you have to apply and the FAA may consider it based off of some vague notion of “security reasons” tells you everything you need to know. Rights for me but none for thee.

April 1

Arthur_Foyt

Publishing pilot home addresses and their medical information SHOULD already be illegal under HIPPA.

2 replies
April 1 ▶ Arthur_Foyt

tomconlin

Your car registration is more private in every state than your FAA reg. The key question, is there a public benefit from having your information available to anyone and everyone?

If anything, if I were a crook who wanted to target someone with assets, I’d hang out at the local airport and write down N-numbers, and go to the FAA website for the owner information. To get that info from a luxury car owner, I would have to follow them around until they drove home. Much harder. Thanks, FAA.

April 1 ▶ Arthur_Foyt

gmbfly98

I don’t disagree that home addresses should be hidden, but HIPPA doesn’t apply - the “HI” in HIPPA is for “health insurance”, and the registration database is not a covered entity.

1 reply
April 1 ▶ gmbfly98

Arthur_Foyt

HIPPA protect the privacy and security of patient health information, ensuring individuals have control over their medical data. I never gave consent that the FAA database publish my medical state or physical limitations (must wear eyeglasses, etc). It’s none of anyone’s business outside of the agency.

2 replies
April 1 ▶ Arthur_Foyt

gmbfly98

The article is about aircraft registration data, not pilot medical data. Aircraft registration data (which in this case includes name and address) is not medical data and thus does not fall under HIPPA.

Though as I said, I do agree it should be private. It’s just that in this case, HIPPA doesn’t have any say over this particular dataset.

April 1 ▶ Arthur_Foyt

KirkW

HIPAA (not HIPPA) stands for “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act”. It applies to the health care industry (providers, hospitals, insurance companies, etc.)

From my understanding, it does not apply to the FAA listing your medical limitations on a public-facing web-site.

While I agree with your privacy demands, HIPAA is not the tool to attain them. This site covers who is and is not required to follow HIPAA rules regarding patient information:
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/index.html

Some examples of who does not have to follow HIPAA rules:

Examples of organizations that do not have to follow the Privacy and Security Rules include:

PS - I think the FAA should make such data visibility an “opt-in” setting, i.e. by default it’s blocked and you have to “opt in” to making it publicly available.

April 1

MostlyWatching

There are roadblocks to actually getting your personal information removed. I am on the fence trying to decide if this is typical incompetent government project management and tech work, or made purposefully difficult because Congress is forcing them to act through an appropriation bill.

Instead of a simple form with a checkbox “Remove my PII” (after logging in to the CARES system and proving your identity), you are required to upload a “PDF”.

  1. There are no instructions of what content must be included on the PDF.
  2. There are no examples.
  3. There are no links to download a PDF with the necessary fields to fill out.
  4. Generating a PDF from scratch requires purchasing and installing expensive software from Adobe.
  5. The FAA has not responded to my inquiry for clarification. The email was sent to the help address specified at the bottom of the instructions page.