For many people diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease, notifying past sexual partners of their health risk is a task that's just too humiliating to face. That's why the inSPOT service was created four years ago, a new report explains. With just a few clicks, people can send an anonymous (or signed) e-card to past partners, letting them know that a trip to the doctor is in order. The email includes links to health clinics and STD information, and no information about the sender or the recipient is collected. The project began when Dr. Jeffrey Klausner of the San Francisco Department of Public Health got together with the tech-savvy nonprofit Internet Sexuality Information Services (ISIS), and brainstormed ideas for a response to an STD outbreak in the gay community.
"In 1999, I discovered an outbreak of syphilis related to an AOL chatroom," Klausner said. Just a year before, San Francisco ...
