Introduction: Wearables enter healthcare
In the early hours of September 10, Apple introduced the Watch, its first new product in four years. The device records heart rate, estimates calories burned, and tracks exercise time and distance. Apple described it as a new, intimate way to communicate from the wrist and a comprehensive health and fitness device. If widely adopted, it could reshape the mobile health market in the U.S.
Wearables, connectivity, and data growth
Wearable devices, mobile connectivity, and big data are changing diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, drug delivery, and payment processes across healthcare. In China, internet companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu have entered the mobile healthcare sector in various ways. Qingke Research Center compiled public data that estimated China's mobile healthcare market at 2.25 billion yuan in 2013, with a projected increase to 12 billion yuan by 2017. An increasingly automated healthcare era is emerging.
Whether it is a wearable user's identity and consumption preferences, marketing information sent by device makers, or life records captured by wearables, these items become storable, processable, integrable, analyzable, and potentially salable data.
User attitudes and privacy concerns
Recently, U.S. advertising and marketing company AcquityGroup surveyed 2,000 U.S. adults who use wearable devices. The survey found that 40% of users would share personal data collected by wearables in exchange for discounts or coupons; 60% would share in-car data for similar rewards. However, willingness to share does not mean users do not care about privacy. Eighty percent of respondents were very concerned about privacy leaks from connected wearables, and 57% said the risk of hacker intrusion and privacy breaches deterred them from using wearable devices.
Personal data aggregation: users become transparent
“Wearable technology can capture and collect detailed personal information, such as lifestyle, health, location, activity, and daily routines,” said Yuan Jian of the Industry Research Institute. “Without proper privacy controls, these data could be used in unforeseen ways, leading to identity theft, tracking, fraud, and other crimes.”
Wearables can aggregate users' personal information. Because of users' reliance on networks, health indicators, behavior patterns, consumption preferences, and employment histories can circulate freely across virtual networks. In the face of massive datasets, daily life can be exposed on public platforms and become subject to inspection, analysis, integration, and study. Individuals can become effectively transparent.
How personal data are leaked
Information flow in wearable devices typically occurs in three stages. Using an activity tracker as an example: first, the device collects a user's activity and health data; second, those data transfer to a smartphone via Bluetooth and synchronize over the network; third, the uploaded data are stored on cloud servers. Each of these stages represents a large repository of personal information and is vulnerable to hacker attack.
Devices used in fitness and healthcare fields can accumulate extensive user privacy data, and the economic value of these datasets creates incentives for misuse.
Examples of vulnerable wearable categories
Wearable medical devices present significant privacy risks. Many medical wearables, such as insulin pumps, glucose monitors, and pacemakers, include wireless support and are susceptible to hacking.
Fitness bands can directly measure heart rate, skin humidity, and temperature, and track daily activity and health trends. Information collected by these monitors may draw attention from insurers and healthcare providers, who could use the data to link insurance premiums to personal lifestyles.
Smart garments are another common wearable application. They can remotely monitor heart rate, respiration, and other vital signs. Beyond helping athletes resolve performance issues, such garments can monitor postoperative patients or the vital signs of soldiers and firefighters in dangerous situations. These personal health data are typically transmitted via Bluetooth or personal-area wireless networks and are therefore vulnerable to interception and compromise.
Conclusion
Wearable devices expand data collection opportunities but also increase privacy exposure across device, link, and cloud stages. Effective privacy controls, secure transmission protocols, and robust cloud security are essential to reduce risks associated with wearable technologies.
