Internet of Things & Wearable Technology Insights

Mobile health apps and wearables on display at MWC are cool and beneficial, but privacy issues lie in wait.

Apart from the more obvious security issues, the advent of wearable tech, ubiquitous connectivity, and big data may introduce more taxing privacy issues. So imagine a dystopian nightmare where information flows from your fitness device to your connected TV and you're bombarded with ads promoting healthier eating (not that unimaginable) -- or worse, where data is freely transferred to your insurance providers' systems, which can now dictate your premiums and discounts based on how fit you are, how regularly you use your connected exercise equipment, and what food you're eating -- and just when we thought getting fit was fun.

Of course, these types of issues will require closer scrutiny and oversight from government agencies. Only last year, the US Food and Drug Administration issued final guidance for developers of healthcare apps, stating it would only focus on apps that turn mobile devices into de facto medical devices -- like, for example, an app that transforms a smartphone into an ECG machine to detect heart problems....