U.S. News & World Report – In late June, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he plans to launch a campaign to incentivize Americans to use wearable health tracking devices.
Health-tracking devices – including watches, rings and bands – can offer real benefits.
They can help you stay accountable to your health goals, alert you if you’re overexerting during a workout and even support stress management, period tracking and sleep monitoring.
However, the announcement sparked privacy concerns, even among Make America Healthy Again supporters, raising the question: Can the government track your health data?
When you go to the doctor, your medical information is kept private under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), but smartwatches, rings and other health-tracking apps and websites aren’t obligated to keep your health data confidential.
“When states or other entities begin subpoenaing health app records, especially in sensitive contexts, it exposes a dangerous gap in our data governance,” says Clyde Williamson, a senior product security architect at Protegrity.
“These apps weren’t built with legal scrutiny in mind, and users rarely understand how much of their personal data is stored, shared or sold. The problem isn’t just technical, it’s ethical.”
Here’s what you need to know about the data health tracking apps collect and how you can keep your personal data private.
What Data Do Apps and Wearables Collect?
It depends on the type of device you’re using, plus why you’re using it – and there’s no shortage of health apps you can be using.
There are more than 350,000 health apps available today that collect a wide spectrum of data, depending on the primary function of the wearable device or app.
“These data typically range from personal sociodemographic information, such as name, date of birth, email and home address, to specific health data that is relevant to the user’s interactions with the app” …
