This year the FitBit was a popular Christmas gift. For those of you with one snuggly strapped on your wrist, what happens to the data once it is collected?
The FitBit Flex and Charge tracks anything from your sleep, to your heart rate to total calories burned in a day. It then displays the data collected about your activities in easy to read charts and graphs. The trend in wearables means we will be able to dig deeper into our lives by accumulating data. But what do we do with this data?
FitBits and other wearables collect data about you and store it on their systems. They store the information as long as a person maintains an account with the company. It is important to be aware of wearable device’s privacy policies around your information. The FitBit privaciy policy explains the company does on sell information that can be identified and traced back to you. The full privacy policy describes the process for providing third parties with your health data. This data is referred to as Deidentified data as described in the policy here.
Websites, apps and now wearables all collect data on the people who use them. As the popularity of wearables increases it is important to keep in mind that privacy policies are an important part of an agreement to use a product. It is worth the few minutes of reading to ensure you agree with what you want a company to share about you.
One thing to consider is that FitBit may post to third party apps, such as Twitter or Facebook. It may also report data back to your employer if you are part of an employee fitness program. It is fully in your control to not agree to post to Facebook or share data with group fitness programs. The following was taken directly from the FitBit Privacy Policy –
Data that You Direct Us to Share
You can direct us to share data with other parties. For example, you might authorize us to link your Fitbit account with a third-party app listed on https://www.fitbit.com/apps; send status updates to your Facebook or Twitter account; or direct us to share data with your employer as part of a wellness program. Once you direct us to share your data with a third party, that data is governed by the third-party’s privacy policy. You can revoke your consent to share with the third party at any time in your Fitbit account settings, under “My Applications.”
Other Ways You Might Share Your Data
Default Visibility Settings
The privacy settings on new Fitbit accounts are set to reveal minimal data about you with the purpose of getting you active and involved with Fitbit. To see what is visible to others use the “Profile viewed by” tool in your account settings. You can adjust your privacy settings at www.fitbit.com/user/profile/privacy.
The future is a place where increasing amounts of data will be available to the average person. Data is a powerful thing and moving forward it is important to manage it so you are only sharing what you wish too!
Next week we will look into the types of fitness wearables are on the market. Stay tuned!
Best
David Bower
CEO
Neo Technologies
thefuture@neo.majorcreative.com.au
