Chapter Five - Predictive personalisation: are we watching or being watched?

Abstract

The security and privacy of personal information have become a particular concern in health care. Where the individual, technology and information are combined in personal health devices, these issues become more acute. However, as more people take an interest in monitoring their fitness and healthcare providers recognise the need for individualised care solutions, questions emerge about the control and ownership of data. Mobile data gathering from health promoting wearable technologies presents operational and functional challenges for the user and analytic, data management, and ethical problems for the service providers. Health tracking not only harvests sensitive information but can allow data sharing with communities of other uses, as well as third parties. One leader in this field is Fitbit and original research examined how users understand the significance of connectivity, temporality and agency. The results demonstrate the importance that users place on autonomy over their fitness and other health objectives and show that user attitudes to data sharing are determined by the sensitivity of their information. But it also pinpoints that in general users are unaware of how the company is using their personal data. The chapter concludes with a discussion of mobile, ‘always on’ data gathering and its implications for privacy and regulation.