Many of my privacy-advocate friends were pleased by the restrictions on uses of health data for marketing that went into the giant “economic stimulus” bill. (Germaneness? Not many people even know what that means around here.)

It’s a sensitive area, no doubt, and health information should be handled carefully and discreetly, but direct marketing is one of the best ways to get information about new treatments to people with diabetes, arteriosclerosis, depression, and hundreds of other diseases and conditions.

Heaven forbid that new parents should be subjected to marketing like this:

Where can I sign up to have my health information made available for marketing?