SCHUMER REVEALS: WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE, FITBIT BRACELETS & SMARTPHONE APPS ARE TRACKING USER’S MOVEMENTS AND HEALTH DATA THAT COULD BE SOLD TO…
Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. |
SCHUMER REVEALS: WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE, FITBIT BRACELETS & SMARTPHONE APPS ARE TRACKING USER'S MOVEMENTS AND HEALTH DATA THAT COULD BE SOLD TO THIRD PARTIES; CALLS FOR FTC TO REQUIRE MANDATORY "OPT-OUT" OPPORTUNITY BEFORE ANY PERSONAL DATA CAN BE SOLD
Tracker Bracelets Gather Info on GPS Locations, Steps Per Day, Sleep Patterns - Data Is So Rich an Individual Can Be ID'ed Purely By Their Gait, But Trackers like 'Fitbit' Can Create 'Privacy Nightmare', According to Experts Schumer Warns that No Federal Privacy Law Prevents Fitness Bracelet & Tracker Companies From Selling A User's Personal Health Data to Third Parties, Including Employers, Health Insurers & Others That Can Then Discriminate Based on That Info Schumer Asks FTC To Immediately Institute Rules That Would Require Fitness Bracelet, Phone Tracking App Companies To Alert Users They Are Being Tracked, and Give Them Opportunity To Opt- Out, Before Tracking Starts
U.S. Senator
Many Americans have started wearing fitness trackers and bracelets, like Fitbit, to monitor and improve their health, and Schumer believes the technology is a positive and effective way to promote healthier and more active living. However, Schumer highlighted that there are insufficient federal protections in place to ensure that information submitted to and collected by these fitness trackers remains personal and private. Schumer drew contrast to a Finnish company called Polar Flow that is appropriately handling privacy by making it very clear in their terms and conditions that they will never sell personally identifiable data for advertising purposes. In his letter to the FTC, he said that the federal government should investigate the vague policies used by these companies that make it impossible for health-conscious consumers to make an informed choice about privacy, and to clarify that it is an unfair or deceptive trade practice when a company fails to state clearly to consumers whether personal data may be sold to third parties for advertising or other purposes.
"Personal fitness bracelets and the data they collect on your health, sleep, and location, should be just that - personal. The fact that private health data - rich enough to identify the user's gait - is being gathered by applications like FitBit and can then be sold to third-parties without the user's consent is a true privacy nightmare," said Senator Schumer. "If companies of fitness devices have the ability to sell personal health data to insurers, employers and others, users should be alerted and given the opportunity to decline. The FTC should require fitness devices and app companies to adopt new privacy measures that will help conceal the identity of individuals and develop policies to protect consumer information in the event of a security breach."
Currently, there are no federal laws that prevent developers from sharing personal health data with third parties. The FTC has openly voiced its concern about the selling of personal fitness data between companies, but has yet to take action to push application developers and other fitness monitoring companies to provide an opt-out opportunity. In
Read this original document at: http://www.schumer.senate.gov/Newsroom/record.cfm?id=355189
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