As the introduction to the report states, "Whether health care businesses make use of the Internet is no longer debatable." This growing use of the Internet to transmit health care data such as patient treatment information, referrals and insurance claims means it is important for the dental practitioner to understand the security concepts and risks associated with sending such data through cyberspace.

– Technical Report No. 1029, Guide to Digital Dental Photography and Imaging, examines the use of digital photography in the dental practice with an emphasis on selecting imaging equipment and sharing digital files.

Included with the report is a comprehensive glossary of dental digital photography terminology, as well as tables providing the practitioner with suggested dentition, soft tissue and extraoral views.

Both reports are available for purchase as downloadable portable document format files. An order form and further information on all ADA informatics standards and technical reports are available in the Informatics Standards content area of ADA.org at "www.ada.org/prof/resources/positions/standards/informatics.asp".

SPAM UPDATE
The Federal Trade Commission told Congress in June that a national "do not e-mail" registry would not reduce the amount of unsolicited commercial e-mail, recommending instead that efforts focus on an e-mail authentication system to help enforce existing antispam laws.

The FTC was charged with investigating the feasibility of such a national registry under the 2003 Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing, or CAN-SPAM, Act. Among other practices, the CAN-SPAM Act makes it illegal to disguise or falsify routing information such as the sender’s address or to continue sending messages to recipients who have indicated they are not wanted.

After considering three models for an e-mail registry designed to yield results similar to the National Do Not Call Registry implemented by the FTC in 2003 to control unwanted telemarketing calls, the agency concluded that "all three possible registry models could not be enforced effectively."

The most obvious model—a simple list of e-mail addresses for which unsolicited mail is prohibited—in fact could result in more spam for registered users, according to the FTC, because spammers could use such a registry as a directory of valid addresses.

Instead, the agency recommends further investigation of an authentication standard that would make it more difficult to disguise the origin of e-mail messages, facilitating enforcement of existing CAN-SPAM regulations.

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