Developers Warned on Protecting Microsoft HealthVault Data

In a posting on the Microsoft Developer Network, a Microsoft program manager writes: "In the offline scenario, the user is prompted to log in once, and the application is then permitted to access the user's data without a future login." As a result, developers are warned:

Microsoft launched HealthVault earlier this month as a three-pronged service, promising privacy, compatibility and security. The company is also providing a HealthVault SDK to the developer community.

Microsoft is now starting to encounter some of the questions and issues that other vendors have hit when trying to marry technology to the health industry. Beyond privacy and data security, there are still more issues that some are raising, such as from one medical technology consultant:

The suggestion being that instead of just a blue screen of death, the discussion could shift to, simply, life or death.