Developer Tips & Reminders

The pandemic has created uncertainties for many large scale public facing web service providers. As of this writing, the tail end of the pandemic appears to be approaching. Nonetheless, we have noticed a few areas that a few moments of prudence can correct before awful mistakes and lost opportunities.

If your terms of service creates undesirable results, update to address the case of an application as a bona fide pandemic suppression system.

Update your existing APIs to provide pandemic related services if you think you can help end the pandemic. Use the bona fide pandemic suppression service category to meet security and terms of service requirements.

CAN-SPAM applies only to email whose primary purpose is commercial, so pandemic suppression systems are not subject to the CAN-SPAM law. This means updates to email policies for this category of applications is not likely to encounter legal issues. You can also free to impose additional requirements as reasonable, such as an opt-out link.

HIPAA applies to protected health information (PHI). After patient medical data is properly de-identified, the data is no longer PHI and no longer subject to HIPAA.