Fitness Tracker Privacy Concerns
Fitness Tracker Privacy Concerns
I’m Ed Smith, a Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer. It’s time to talk about fitness tracker privacy concerns.
Fitbit, Jawbone and Garmin
Fitbit, Jawbone and Garmin are top-selling fitness trackers. They have become very popular with fitness enthusiasts. In fact, they are selling like hotcakes. But, did you know that when you use one, you may be forfeiting your right to privacy?
Debate Heating Up Over Consumer Privacy
Apple made it clear in an open letter to its consumers that it plans to fight an FBI court order to hack a terrorist’s telephone. Soon after the open letter, Twitter, Facebook and Google sided with Apple.
What About Fitness Trackers?
Fitness trackers record a person’s steps and sleep. Recently, there was a case against a woman from Florida where a fitness tracker was introduced as evidence.
Fitness Tracker Recording Every Detail
The data that these gadgets record can later help insurance companies, police, attorneys and others learn how we spend our days. The data also records how our bodies respond to our daily activities. Talk about sensitive data being recorded!
A Treasure Trove of Real-Time Data
All your heart beats have been recorded. All your foot steps have been recorded. What time you woke up and went to bed has been recorded. Everything in between has also been recorded. Fans of these devices are recording all their personal data in real-time. Some devices are even logging GPS coordinates as well. Do we want an electronic footprint and heartbeat of all our daily activities? Maybe. Maybe not.
Forensic Investigations
We know that forensic investigators pull information off laptops, cell phones and other electronic devices. Often times this kind of information helps in prosecuting a dangerous criminal. But where do we draw the line when it comes to our privacy?
Liar Beware
A Florida woman claimed she was raped. Her fitness tracker, a Fitbit Surge, showed that she couldn’t have been raped as alleged because the fitness tracker showed she was up and walking around at the time she claimed she had been in bed sleeping.
In another case, a woman from Canada was in an accident five years ago. Her lawyer is trying to introduce evidence logged on her Fitbit device to depict how active she used to be (prior to the accident) as compared to now. All this in an effort to prove her personal injury case.
Making an Informed Decision About Our Personal Privacy
It is important for each individual to make their own informed decision about personal privacy. Can we live without recording our fitness steps? Can we live without calling, chatting and texting whomever we want? Can we live without storing sensitive material in our devices? Things that make you go hmmm…
I’m Ed Smith. A Sacramento personal injury lawyer. Call me today for free, friendly advice at 916-921-6400 in Sacramento.
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