Yesterday, PositiveSingles announced that it is in total compliance with HIPAA-style privacy rules. It has developed a framework for other dating sites to use.
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is aimed to regulate insurance and health entities to follow strict privacy regulations for any disclosure of patient and client private information.
Authorities have encouraged all dating websites to use the HIPAA following Grindr’s leak of users’ HIV status to third-party companies.
Suny, Product Manager of PositiveSingles said: “In light of what has happened, we have taken an approach to the HIPAA to learn successful cases in other industries. We actively regulate ourselves with an enhanced standard to avoid the potential risk. Thus, we developed the regulation for dating sites: the HIPAA-style privacy rule.”
The herpes dating site has defined the The Private Dating Information (PDI) for other dating sites to correspond to the HIPAA for the health insurance industry.
PositiveSingles has applied the Intellectual Property Right Protocol. This means the dating website does not disclose any information without user’s permission, for example, if they want to put a success story on their homepage.
It has then applied the Notification Protocol, which means user’s personal information on their profile including their usernames, photos and STD types are not to be disclosed by PositiveSingles to third-party companies. Users will be informed first.
Finally, PositiveSingles has also applied the Communication Protocol in correspondence with HIPAA. This protocol means the platform does not share its user’s information to the STD test centre if the user goes there by clicking the link to its site without the user’s permission.
Suny added: “The PDI is the essence we protect. HSV singles, as well as people with other STDs, care very much about their privacy. Our enforced privacy covers all categories of users’ personal info. The site is ready for enhanced privacy protection standard.”
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