Wearable Fitness Device Privacy Concerns Abound

Nossaman LLP
Contact

How would you feel if businesses or individuals had access to your medical records?  There is no question that advertisers, businesses, and even overly-clingy significant others would love to have access to your private medical information.  Last year on the Colbert Report, Dr. Eric Topol, Chief Academic Officer of Scripps Health, predicted that the smart phone “is going to be the conduit of data and information about your health, about your medical essence, like you’ve never had before.”  The proliferation of wearable wireless fitness devices, such as those sold by Fitbit and Jawbone, add credibility to Dr. Topol’s prediction.  This has caused significant concern among privacy advocates, who fear that, in rushing to enter the wearable wireless fitness device market, nascent entrepreneurs may give little thought to security and privacy considerations. 

Recently, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called devices like Fitbit and other wireless fitness devices, a “privacy nightmare” and called for federal protections to safeguard users’ privacy.  Senator Schumer was concerned that companies like Fitbit could sell data about users’ health and fitness to third parties.  Just last month, Fitbit changed its privacy policy, in no small part because of congressional scrutiny.  Fitbit’s revised privacy policy provides: “First and foremost: We don’t sell any data that could identify you.  We only share data about you when it is necessary to provide our services, when the data is de-identified and aggregated, or when you direct us to share it.”

Only days ago, Apple implemented new rules for health apps, a move that many speculate was motivated by the announcement of the highly anticipated “iWatch.”  Apple’s revised privacy policy applies to apps that will make use of Apple’s “HealthKit” app, which will serve as a hub for data collected by third-party fitness and health apps on Apple’s upcoming iOS 8.  The revised privacy policy provides that developers may not “sell an end-user’s health information collected through the HealthKit API to advertising platforms, data brokers or information resellers,” according to the report. What’s more, developers cannot use HealthKit’s API or its information “for any purpose other than providing health and/or fitness services.”

So far, protection of wearable wireless fitness device users’ privacy has been left to private entities, like Apple and Fitbit.  However, given congressional privacy concerns over wearable fitness devices and the FTC’s recent complaint against LabMD for failure to adequately protect consumers’ medical information, this is an area rife with potential for new legislation and/or litigation.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© Nossaman LLP | Attorney Advertising

Written by:

Nossaman LLP
Contact
more
less

Nossaman LLP on:

Reporters on Deadline

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
Custom Email Digest
- hide
- hide