🏃 Fitness Tracker Privacy Fails | EFFector 38.14
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reviewed how fitness tracker companies handle the sensitive health data collected by wearables like watches, bands, and rings. Their findings indicate that despite widespread adoption of these devices, manufacturers are doing far less than they could to protect users' data from outside access.
Why this matters: Your fitness tracker knows things your doctor might not. Resting heart rate, sleep patterns, menstrual cycles, stress levels — this data is deeply personal, and most people hand it over without reading a word of the privacy policy. The companies collecting it are not hospitals. They are not bound by HIPAA. That means they can share, sell, or lose your data with very little accountability. The risk is not abstract. Health data can affect insurance, employment, and personal safety. If a device is marketed as being for your health, it should actually protect it.
Who should care: Healthcare professionals · Privacy officers · Compliance · General readers · Policy
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