Privacy issues are getting top billing lately with increasing cases of identity theft, corporate mishandling of sensitive data, and legislature like the Patriot Act. Still most Americans are blissfully unaware of laws that protect sensitive health information. Many of us remember inappropriate HIV disclosure cases, but that was simply the tip of the iceberg.

Check out examples of privacy abuses that will make you cringe. How about the banker who also served on his county's health board cross-referenced customer accounts with patient information - then called due the mortgages of anyone suffering from cancer (1). That's a 10 on the smarmy index.