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302348
Health Domains for Sale: The Need for Global eHealth Governance
Monday, November 17, 2014
: 1:10 PM - 1:30 PM
Bryan Liang, MD, JD, PhD
,
School of Medicine (UCSD),, University of California, San Diego,, San Diego, CA
Jillian Kohler, PhD
,
University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Amir Attaran, MS, D.Phil, LLB
,
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
A debate on Internet governance for health, or “eHealth governance” is emerging with the impending award of a new dot-health (.health) generic top-level domain name (“gTLD”) to a private sector entity. This development is critical as it will shape the future of health information online, allowing largely unrestricted use of .health second-level domain names by future registrants, raising concerns about the potential for Internet fraud and abuse. Prospective .health gTLD applicants are uniformly business corporations with few or no ties to the global health community. If approved, one of these for-profit corporate entities would effectively control the future of the .health address on the Internet with arguably no active oversight from important international public health stakeholders. In addition, other health-related gTLDs including .doctor, .healthcare, .hospital, and .medical are pending award, also exclusively to private sector entities. Countries, medical associations, civil society, and consumer advocates have objected to these applications on grounds that they do not meet the public interest. We argue that there is an immediate need for action to postpone awarding of the .health gTLD and other health-related gTLDs to address these concerns and ensure the appropriate development of sound eHealth governance principles and use. This would support the crucial need of ensuring access to quality and evidence-based sources of health information online. We believe, if properly governed, .health and other domains could represent such a promise in the future.
Learning Areas:
Public health or related education
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related public policy
Learning Objectives:
Describe the current global debate and controversy regarding the .health generic top-level domain name and other health-related domains that could be awarded to exclusively private sector entities with little experience in public health in 2014.
Evaluate current .health generic top-level domain name and other health-related domain applicants and their safeguards for ensuring quality health information online.
Formulate a global policy position calling for the immediate postponement of awarding of the .health gTLD and other health-related gTLDs to address concerns for consumer use of health information online and to ensure the appropriate development of sound eHealth governance principles and use.
Keyword(s): Internet, Policy/Policy Development
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I hold a masters degree in health law and policy and a PhD in global health. I am a co-author on several peer-review manuscripts on global health policy and trade related issues have also given oral presentations at several international and domestic public health conferences including APHA.
Any relevant financial relationships? Yes
| Name of Organization |
Clinical/Research Area |
Type of relationship |
| World Health Organization |
Health Internet |
Travel reimbursement to Geneva Switzerland |
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.
