Sharing health data online comes with a number of ethical concerns and problems because it exposes an individual or group to various predatory activities. The ethical violation is centered around one’s autonomy because such measures can result in health data being shared without a patients’ consent or knowledge. Another problem is the fact that once health data is shared online, it cannot be taken back, which results in the permanence of such information. In addition, if online health data sharing becomes a common occurrence, it can lead to questionable behaviors among organizations or individual parties to exploit such data. For example, social media platforms can target a person with a specific condition abusing his or her vulnerability. Privacy is a prime concern, which is incompatible with online health data sharing. The main reason is that health information might reveal a wide range of key details about a person with a possibility or risk of exposing the identity.
Moreover, there are major cybersecurity risks when it comes to online health data sharing. Hackers and other cyber criminals can always target such information to abuse it for their own aims. If a healthcare organization decides to have some form of a platform where health data is stored online, a hacking party can breach its security measures and obtain sensitive information without any major obstacle. Although such occurrences are still a massive risk today, online availability will make it significantly susceptible to cyber threats. Therefore, it will violate another core pillar of medicine, which is justice and fairness, since ensuring it in an online environment will be substantially more difficult. Thus, health data should not be shared online unless the security measures are absolute and core pillars of medicine are adhered to.