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20 Colum. Sci. & Tech. L. Rev. 333 (2018-2019)
The Chatbot Will See You Now: Protecting Mental Health Confidentiality in Software Applications

handle is hein.journals/cstlr20 and id is 333 raw text is: THE CHATBOT WILL SEE YOUNOW THE COLUMBIA SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY LAW REVIEW VOL. XX STLR.ORG SPRING 2019 ARTICLE THE CHATBOT WILL SEE You Now: PROTECTING MENTAL HEALTH CONFIDENTIALITY IN SOFTWARE APPLICATIONSt Scott Stiefel* Chatbots are a fonn of artificial intelligence that can read text, or translate voice to text, and provide a response. While they have existed since the 1960's, they have recently been used to provide a form of therapy through software applications (apps). However, unlike licensed professionals who provide traditional mental health services, chatbots are not subject to confidentiality obligations. Currently, federal and state regulations that impose confidentiality obligations in the healthcare context do not apply to chatbots, and the regulations that do apply to chatbots do not impose such obligations. Because users engaging with these apps disclose information similar to information disclosed during a therapy session, this Article proposes a new regulatoy framework, through new legislation, to limit the use and disclosure of information received by software- based therapy technologies. t This article may be cited as http://www.stlr.org/cite.cgi?volume= 20&article=Stiefel.pdf. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. * Corporate Counsel - Henry Schein One, Internet Brands. LL.M. in Health Law, Loyola University Chicago;J.D., The Catholic University of America; B.S., University of Illinois at Urbana. For her patience, guidance, and assistance, I am grateful to Nadia Sawicki, my thesis advisor. I am also thankful for the assistance and input of Stacey Tovino, Jordan Paradise, and the editorial team at the Columbia Science & Technology Law Review. 2019] 333

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