Announcing Onkor: free,open alternative to Encore Pro/Viewer

<I have chosen to delete this post out of courtesy to the developers, since my concerns were addressed.>

Onkor is great open-source software, and is definitely worth a try. That's all I wanted to say. sorry for "feeding the trolls". I had a sleep tech spout similar crap at me today, so am still on edge.

jedimark wrote:Onkor is great open-source software, and is definitely worth a try. That's all I wanted to say. sorry for "feeding the trolls". I had a sleep tech spout similar crap at me today, so am still on edge.

Jedimark,

Oncor is irrelevant to me, since I don't use a System One. Yet I think it's a great accomplishment.

Why use a person's machine's serial number?

Why not allow the user to create an anonymous ID within certain parameters?

Then it would be readily available, but anonymous, and at least part of JNK's legitimate concerns would be addressed. We all know that even so-called secure websites can be hacked.

.

Sorry. It's was just the way jnk brought it up.. Don't know if it was his intention or not, but he made it sound like onkor developers have ulterior motives, and the data was wide open for everyone to see.

jedimark wrote:Sorry. It's was just the way jnk brought it up.. Don't know if it was his intention or not, but he made it sound like onkor developers have ulterior motives, and the data was wide open for everyone to see.

I apologize for that appearance, jedimark.

<Remainder of post snipped by me, since my concerns were addressed.>

All is forgiven jnk..

still not able to get data from card to onkor program-- it downloaded but not finding it

jnk, I'm not disputing the validity of your point, but for my enlightenment, please comment further:

1. Is it not the case that the Onkor site as it now is, can link just three things: my machine's serial number, the flow graphs for the files I choose to upload, and my IP address.

2. The serial number can only be linked to the purchaser by knowing who sold the machine and to whom it was sold, information Onkor doesn't have. Even that information doesn't guarantee the purchaser is the user.

3. Implicitly, the user of the machine has a diagnosis of sleep apnea, but Onkor doesn't know who the user is, so it can't reveal the user's diagnosis.

4. Supposing someone hacked Onkor's site, retrieved the information in 1, above, hacked Respironic's data to find out what vendor sold the machine, then hacked the vendor's data to find who bought the machine, how could the assembled information be used in a way that could harm me?

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There may be NO consequences to using the Website as is. But if someone asks me for a serial number, I think I have the right to ask why.

<snipped by poster, since concerns were addressed>

Not to detract from other important facets of the patient-privacy discussion. Only to add that a patient user group is not subject to HIPAA requirements according to Uncle Sam. See below:

U.S. Government wrote: The HIPAA Privacy Rule provides federal protections for personal health information held by covered entities

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/un ... index.html

And here are those HIPAA "covered entities":

U.S. Government wrote:
The Administrative Simplification standards adopted by Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) apply to any entity that is

* a health care provider that conducts certain transactions in electronic form (called here a "covered health care provider").
* a health care clearinghouse.
* a health plan.

An entity that is one or more of these types of entities is referred to as a "covered entity" in the Administrative Simplification regulations.

https://www.cms.gov/HIPAAGenInfo/06_Are ... Entity.asp

I love that homonym. But does the Encore homonym leave room for a corporate civil suit? Thank you and good luck, Onkor developers.

jnk wrote: The serial number is an identifier, plain and simple.

I think I'm as confused about this aspect of the privacy issue as M.D. Hosehead...

I perfectly understand that the serial number is a machine identifier. But I honestly don't yet understand HOW the machine serial number becomes an anonymity spoiler----compared to any other unique account number that the Onkor developers might have assigned.

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cpapdork has been very up front about it. I admire that.

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You're definitely not trolling IMHO, Jeff. I'm merely trying to digest WHICH objections raised in this thread are founded. So far I don't see patient anonymity as an issue. This is a perfectly valid sentiment IMO:

jnk wrote: Just seems a very different arrangement from making software available for free download to use on one's own computer, which was what I mistakenly thought was being developed.

But so far I see that as a preference about data possession rather than anonymity. Of course, people who don't like having their data stored anywhere but their own hard drives can refrain from the free offering.

Thanks for adding your thoughts to this discussion, Jeff. Had you not done so, I would not have thought through this issue to the degree I just did. I hope the discussion will help others decide what they prefer as well.

jedimark wrote: It's easier to hack those precious serial numbers out of all those infested windows PC's out there running pirate copies of Encore.

This kind of statement is meant to inflame not to inform. Programs can be changed to capture computer info, the fact that you have a copy of a program that's not the original, doesn't mean it's filled with spyware or trojans. Most hackers would find it more productive to modify a program that has main stream computing use, not a obscure medical data reader, it's not as time or cost effective.

Run your PC's with software to secure them, keep them free from attact. Or run a MAC, they are safe because they run nothing worth stealing. Jim