Are there any wearable fitness devices on the market that won't phone home with my health data?
I'd love to be able to track my fitness regime with some wearable hardware, but I have absolutely no desire to feed Big Data even more personal information about myself. At best my data will be used to line the pockets of marketers, or at worst will sabotage my ability to get insurance, health care, etc. Or maybe my concerns are entirely unfounded.
So are there any that keep the data out of the cloud right out of the box? Any that are at least hack-friendly so the transmission can be blocked (at the hardware level, by fudging around with hosts.txt and my router)? Or any that can be hooked up to third-party analysis software that doesn't transmit data?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 20 2014, @08:01AM
Big Brother cares about your fitness. Hiding from Big Brother is a symptom of pathological paranoia. You don't want to be unfit for inclusion in society, do you?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Subsentient on Tuesday May 20 2014, @08:15AM
Somehow that struck a chord with me. I've always had a fear about such things because I grew up with Aspergers. *Shudder*
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 20 2014, @08:51AM
That certainly explains how you managed to get your user ID. ;-)
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 20 2014, @06:44PM
Yet you post information about your health conditions in online forums... just sayin'
(Score: 4, Interesting) by WizardFusion on Tuesday May 20 2014, @08:01AM
You could always root/jailbreak your phone, and install an outgoing firewall - as I do.
Why should everything I download need access to the internet. Nope, block everything.
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday May 20 2014, @10:25AM
Or if he doesn't want to go to the trouble there is plenty of Android based media players out there and as a nice bonus you have tunes!
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 1) by ticho on Tuesday May 20 2014, @11:12AM
But how can you be sure that the GSM chip is not sending data from under the Android OS? :) Tinfoil hats all the way.
(Score: 2) by tbuddy on Tuesday May 20 2014, @12:26PM
Most of the trackers don't even sync if not done to their server, so you can add reverse engineering their requests and making use of them. One could always gooffline [amazon.com] and hook it up to a spreadsheet to keep personal logs. Just get the math behind height, stride, weight. Let the spreadsheet do the work if you are that paranoid.
Honestly I don't get the concern. Make a fake name and put it up and be done with it. Not like the makers of these things give a damn about your personal data when most of them only require an email, google or Facebook login. Fake versions of those should be easy and you'll get all the whiz bang nonsense they have.
That said, I really like the Fitbit Zip better than the Misfit Shine, Fuelband, or Jawbone Up. I don't have any desire to sleep track or stair track though.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by davester666 on Tuesday May 20 2014, @04:23PM
Are you kidding? Advertisers for exercise equipment and medicine would LOVE this data, and really want to attach a name to it. Sure, you give them a fake name within the app, but they match it with other data your phone sends out to other web sites. And then there is the data on your phone the app can rummage through looking for your real name.
(Score: 2) by tbuddy on Tuesday May 20 2014, @06:27PM
Hook it up to your computer and sync it through a proxy. No one said you have to hook up your phone. If one is concerned with privacy they wouldn't have a cell phone.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by davester666 on Wednesday May 21 2014, @03:30AM
1. Having a cell phone does not mean I am unconcerned with my privacy. In fact, this is exactly what this article and posts are about.
2. Are there fitness trackers that have apps [either mobile or for a desktop] that don't require uploading the data to the company's server? I'm not aware of any. Every single one that I've looked at requires signing up for an on-line account, and the app uploads all data to the server, and then reports back various stats calculated by the server. They basically treat your smartphone as a dumbphone, only capable of displaying results that are calculated elsewhere.
(Score: 2) by halcyon1234 on Tuesday May 20 2014, @05:00PM
Possible solution, though I'm not sure if just a fake name alone would obfuscate the data enough so it isn't tied back. Maybe if I put in some fake demographic information too (70 year old hispanic female from Arkansa). But I don't know if that would screw up the usefulness of the fitness data to me. ie: "Your heart rate is really high for a 70 year old female." But it's perfectly normal for me.
Original Submission [thedailywtf.com]
(Score: 2) by halcyon1234 on Tuesday May 20 2014, @04:58PM
Some of the devices will only do graphing, analysis, etc, after you upload the dataset to their server. Once it's there, for all intents and purposes, it's leaked. It doesn't matter what privacy controls I enable, or what "please don't share" checkboxes I check. I assume it'll be sold to marketers, leaked to insurance companies, exposed to the Web, etc.
For sure, though, stopping the raw data from being whispered back to the company is step one. I've already got my phone rooted, firewalled and xPrivacy'd. So if there is a device that does all data analysis solely on the phone (or PC), I can lock it down. I wouldn't want to shell out $200 for a device that I only learn after the fact requires remote server connectivity to function.
Original Submission [thedailywtf.com]
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Tuesday May 20 2014, @08:12AM
You will be assimilated. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday May 20 2014, @11:22AM
We are big data.
You will be eavesdropped. Lower your firewall and surrender your computing units. We will add your data and work capacity to our profit capability. Your ways will be adapted to service our power base. Resistance will be disadvantageous.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by aristarchus on Tuesday May 20 2014, @08:28AM
Run Naked! It is the only way to keep your health data secure! Oh, and be sure, while you are running naked to both wear a tin-foil hat and post selfies on FacebooK!!! It' the only way to be sure.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 20 2014, @09:29AM
"Are there any wearable fitness devices on the market that won't phone home with my health data?"
Just about any electronic device can be monitored to some degree.
Nothing beats pen and paper.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Darth Turbogeek on Tuesday May 20 2014, @10:14AM
As far as I have seen, your concerns are utterly without foundation. Something like a Garmin 910XT (like I have right here) will not phone home or give away data unless you specifially load it up to a site like Garmin Connect - and your profile is as locked down as you desire. You want to share? Go ahead. Dont want to? Then dont.
I've also looked at what data the Garmins I have (Yeah I have multiple) send when Garmin Connect notifies of a update - it's just version numbers and model.
Unless someone has definate proof otherwise, my experience is fairly positive from a privacy viewpoint. I use them, I can choose to upload or not, or I can use something like Golden Cheetah for cycling which does not phone home for analysis. Oh and what profile I do have on Garmin? All the identity data it requests is completely fake with a throwaway email address.
I have not and will not connect my Garmin data to social media so..... yeah I'm pretty sure with a couple of minor precatutions, your data is safe.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday May 20 2014, @04:48PM
Pretty much spot on. That Garmin doesn't have a cellular connection, it can optionally send data to your computer, but you don't have to even have an account on the garmin website.
There are other apps for Smartphone Phones, for tracking runs, rides, etc, and they don't have to upload your data either.
(If you carry your phone with you, you are already "tracked" to some degree).
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 20 2014, @10:22AM
imo you need to read more on counterintelligence/side channel attacks/fm fingerprinting/etc many ways to send/receive data from unknown sources to you without a net connection. even very simple wrist watches and other simple devices made in the 00/90/80ies can be compromised without any advanced usb/computer connectivity. you can debate until you're blue in the face or you can do the research yourself.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by VLM on Tuesday May 20 2014, @11:25AM
First problem is its pretty much useless. Yeah I got a fitbit about a year ago, and they spam me some graphs and stuff, but I don't really care. Mostly its something to put thru the clothes wash and swear (note, if you immediately run it thru the dryer in a clothes pocket for padding it'll "probably" live but if you take it out wet, it'll corrode and you can throw it out, crazy but true) I find the wifi "aria" scale to be about 100x more motivational, although its BigBrotherApproved(tm). For actual exercise tracking both walking on the sidewalk almost every lunch hour and hiking in the wilderness around once per weekend (plus or minus weather) I just runkeeper on the phone.
Second problem is as a kid I had various mechanical and electronic pedometers and none of them work well, too many extra/skipped steps. Supposedly with intense calibration work you can achieve accuracy, but even a science/math type guy like me failed. GPS based devices work pretty well. I used to ride my bike with a Garmin GPS12XL from the 90s on the handlebars as my odometer / speedometer / map thingy. It predates real maps but provided a perfectly adequate snake trail. In the modern era if you don't want something 20 years old there are numerous similar GPS devices.
Lots of people who know pretty much absolutely nothing are certain that GPS receivers transmit your position. You can certainly add a transmitter (google for the ham radio APRS people, I kind of pioneered that in my local area in '93 or so, and it was boring having about 2 other people using it). Anyway a cheap GPS will usually make a great odometer.
(Score: 1) by kaszz on Tuesday May 20 2014, @11:54AM
Reprogram the fitness tracker and make your own software to read it?
(better yet, remove the smartphone from the communication loop)
(Score: 2) by hubie on Tuesday May 20 2014, @12:03PM
You didn't state what your requirements were for a device. If you have a Wii U, I like the Wii U Fit Meter [nintendo.com] as a basic activity logger. It doesn't measure anything like heartbeat, but it is a (supposedly decently accurate) pedometer with a built-in pressure sensor so that it can figure out if you are ascending or descending. It retails around $20. As far as I can tell, it doesn't send any info out.
(Score: 2) by halcyon1234 on Tuesday May 20 2014, @06:18PM
Original Submission [thedailywtf.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 20 2014, @11:02PM
There is also the original Personal Trainer: Walking [personaltr...alking.com] version. Works with their now-dirt-cheap original portable Nintendo DS, but it lacks the altimeter functionality. Great pedometer, though, and can often be found really really cheap as it never sold very well.
Check out Oregon Scientific for heart rate monitor watches and other stuff. Not hard to find ones that either keep the data on the device or, at most, transfer it to some lousy Windows software that never needs to contact the outside world. I've only used ones that utilize a chest belt to sense heart rate; I've read that the "momentary touch" kind are neither as accurate or convenient. Oregon Scientific Store, Heart Rate stuff [oregonscie...cstore.com]
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by VLM on Tuesday May 20 2014, @12:05PM
What is a "wearable fitness device"?
I thought about it a bit and it seems to be marketing PR droid speak for a pedometer (which sounds like you'd get arrested for CP possession, so I can see why they changed the marketing name)
The problem is the marketing droids made the term too vague, so it "could" mean a GPS with an odometer function, or pulse oximeter (clips on your finger, reports heart rate and blood oxygenation level in a second or so, very star trek). Maybe it means my coworkers blood sugar test kit thingy. Or, I guess, technically wrist and ankle weights would seem to count.
So rather than deciding you want a device title that doesn't mean much, might want to step back and figure what you're trying to do, and then find a device (regardless of its title) that does that goal.
On a different topic, based on experience: One thing for sure is the more automated and automatic and electronic and hands free and convenient the device is, the less impact it will have on behavior. So my fitbit is a great way to monitor me but an awful way to adjust behavior. The scale I step on in the morning is a PITA and takes time and impacts my morning routine and focuses my concentration on some digits, so its hard to ignore and has at least some minimal net positive impact on my daily behavior.
(Score: 1) by steveha on Tuesday May 20 2014, @06:40PM
The fitness tracker itself has no way to phone home. What you need to worry about is the software that pulls the data from the tracker and makes graphs for you.
At least some of the software sends the data to cloud servers, where it is processed and the graphs are created. I have a Garmin Edge 810 (a bicycle computer with GPS features) and the Garmin software is purely web-based, so I know for sure that the device will send my location data to remote computers if I ever use the Garmin web-based software.
I did a few quick Google searches, and I found that people have figured out how to get the data out of a FitBit. Maybe you should get a FitBit, extract the data with Galileo, and then write some SciPy scripts to make whatever graphs and charts you want.
http://linuxaria.com/article/how-to-sync-your-fitb it-under-linux?lang=en [linuxaria.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @10:34AM
"The fitness tracker itself has no way to phone home."
If the device is electronic, it can be clandestinely manipulated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 21 2014, @06:22PM
If the device is electronic, it can be clandestinely manipulated.
Have you seen a FitBit? It's a tiny thing, very low-power, with no room for any clandestine cell phone antenna. How exactly is this thing going to phone home all by itself?
photo of FitBit [cbsistatic.com]
I guess someone could clandestinely put a black box containing BlueTooth hardware into your home, and that could pull the data clandestinely... but how can that be considered "the fitness tracker itself" phoning home?
If you keep running logs on a sheet of paper, someone could clandestinely put a camera in your house, watching your desk, and get your workout data by reading your handwriting. Would you then say that the sheet of paper is "phoning home" the data?
Ay carumba.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 22 2014, @01:02AM
The subject should sweep all rooms prior to operating every time. Cameras and other transmitting devices can easily be found. No sweat. The desk - this assumes the subject operates at his desk instead of another place like a well shielded panic room, or maybe inside a bath tub with a pile of random bath towels covering him - the head covering completely wet.
"Would you then say that the sheet of paper is "phoning home" the data?"
No, I'd say the subject's OPSEC is very poor.
Regarding the device mentioned, it is correct to reason every electronic device can be pwned by the right people.