Use of Encryption Service for Patient E-Mails Urged.

DENVER -- George Orwell had it right: Big Brother really is watching.

All of your movements on the Internet are tracked by outside parties--and this has major implications for protecting patient privacy in an era when a growing number of physicians are using interactive Web sites to communicate with patients and colleagues, Dr. Mark A. Graber asserted at the annual meeting of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.

He strongly urged physicians who exchange e-mail with patients or other physicians to use an encryption service. Lowcost services provided by companies such as PGP Security (www.pgp.com) and Gibson Research Corp. (www.grc.com) prevent snoops from reading sensitive e-mail.

Dr. Graber uses PGP because it's customizable and integrates seamlessly with a range of platforms. It lets you automatically encode your e-mail; only the intended recipient, who must also subscribe to the service, can decode it.

"PGP stands for 'Pretty Good Privacy,' which is an understatement. I think it's actually excellent privacy. You may remember that a couple of years ago the government tried to suppress its use and keep it from being exported--it's that good," said Dr. Graber of the University of Iowa, Iowa City.

If you think you have no need for this kind of James Bond stuff, think again. DoubleClick and other for-profit companies are combing the. Internet and building profiles on computer users. DoubleClick alone has data on more than 18 million households--including Dr. Graber's. Theoretically this is done to construct detailed marketing profiles so you can be targeted for services and promotions that you're likely to want. But in reality the data are for sale, and the smallprint disclaimers at the bottom of Web sites provide no real-world protection.

"They can sell that information ...