Privacy Implications of Wearable Health Devices

Abstract

With the recent rise in popularity of wearable personal health monitoring devices, a number of concerns regarding user privacy are raised, specifically with regard to how the providers of these devices make use of the data obtained from these devices, and the protections that user data enjoys. With waterproof monitors intended to be worn 24 hours per day, and companion smartphone applications able to offer analysis and sharing of activity data, we investigate and compare the privacy policies of four services, and the extent to which these services protect user privacy, as we find these services do not fall within the scope of existing legislation regarding the privacy of health data. We then present a set of criteria which would preserve user privacy, and avoid the concerns identified within the policies of the services investigated.