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from the all-your-wearables-are-belong-to-us dept.
The rapidly expanding wearable device market raises serious privacy concerns, as some device makers collect a massive amount of personal data and share it with other companies, according to a new study.
Existing health privacy laws don't generally apply to wearable makers, the study says. While consumers are embracing fitness trackers, smart watches, and smart clothing, a "weak and fragmented" health privacy regulatory system in the U.S. fails to give consumers the privacy protections they may expect, said the study, released Thursday by the Center for Digital Democracy and the School of Communication at American University.
"Many of these devices are already being integrated into a growing Big Data digital health and marketing ecosystem, which is focused on gathering and monetizing personal and health data in order to influence consumer behavior," the study says.
As consumers buy more smart wearables and the devices' functionality becomes increasingly sophisticated, "the extent and nature of data collection will be unprecedented," the study adds.
"Americans now face a growing loss of their most sensitive information, as their health data are collected and analyzed on a continuous basis, combined with information about their finances, ethnicity, location, and online and off-line behaviors," said Jeff Chester, CDD's executive director and co-author of the report. "Policy makers must act decisively to protect consumers in today's big data era."
In the U.S., privacy law is piecemeal, with separate laws for different types of information, such as financial, student, or health data, the study notes. U.S. privacy laws governing health information are "limited and fragmented, with significant gaps in coverage," the study says. "The degree to which users of wearable devices will be able to make informed privacy decisions ... will ultimately depend on the effectiveness of government and self-regulatory policies."
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 18 2016, @04:29AM
...could be a little bit less idiotic and stop using this crap
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday December 18 2016, @06:21AM
Well, to exercise is not rocket science. First of all, the movements of hardcore athletes, even in NASCAR and F1, is being analyzed by sensors numbering in the hundreds or even thousands of individual bodies participating in sports.
I have said here a few times that ESPN magazine is great to read (especially by nerds) because of the heavily technical content within, to include as an example players wearing a myriad of sensors as an experiment to determine whether or not they are faking a personal foul. [wikipedia.org]
But speaking to average Joes, you exercise enough and you get tired. You get sore after a few days of that and rest for a day or two, then resume your exercise. Is that really rocket-science? Do I have to club you over the head with a baseball bat to let you know that your head hurts and perhaps you should take a break? Do you need a fucking gadget as a substitution for bodily feedback and human instinct? If so, then you are retarded. If a fat fuck like me can lift weights and run 4 miles at a time, then you can too.