Judge Skeptical of Google’s Role Protecting Patient Health Data

A San Francisco federal judge appeared doubtful of green-lighting a proposed class action alleging Google LLC violated state and federal privacy laws by collecting sensitive health data through website tracking technology.

At a hearing Thursday, Judge Vince Chhabria said Google doesn’t appear to be the entity that has a responsibility to protect patient health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, but instead the health providers who use tools like Google Analytics on their websites.

Google appears to have a “pretty good” HIPAA disclaimer that says its Google Analytics tool doesn’t claim to satisfy the privacy requirements, he ...