Beware - Smartwatches and Fitness Bands

[Monroe]

Technology gone amok ... this is maybe something to be concerned about, I don't know. This seems to be along the lines of various gadgets in modern homes keeping track of everything and then being hacked in some way. Younger people still in their teens and early 20's will face the onslaught of being tracked everywhere ... their homes from smart TVs, refrigerators and such ... hotel rooms with various electronics, can you really have any privacy in a hotel room these days? ... then their cars and car rentals.

Moving to a nice warm laid back island with some limited modern technology or in laid back middle America, somewhere off the beaten path or a small coastal ocean village where tourists don't stop very often ... just the sound of waves and seagulls.

 

Fitness tracker Christmas prezzies could bump up insurance premiums and leak personal data on the dark web

Christmas gift guide favourites like Fitbit, Jawbone, Misfit, Samsung Gear and Apple trackers come with a safety and security warning, according to the experts

by MARGI MURPHY

19th December 2016

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2433599/fitness-tracker-christmas-prezzies-could-bump-up-insurance-premiums-and-leak-personal-data-on-the-dark-web/

GADGETS to help you lose weight are being used by private companies to track you and could have terrible consequences in the future, experts have warned.

They claim companies’ unprecedented access to smartwatches and fitness band data could eventually bump up your insurance premium, affect your job and even lead to your identity being stolen.

A report by the Centre for Digital Democracy warned that all wearable gadgets posed serious privacy and security risks.

American manufacturers could be feeding information it collects from gadgets that monitor your heart rate, sleep pattern, calorie consumption and stress levels to private healthcare and insurance companies, it stated.

This information can make these companies mega-bucks in targeted advertising.

Even if a company has promised not to sell on your data — it’s at risk of a massive cyber hack as crooks eye it up to potentially sell on on the dark web for mind-boggling amounts.

The report stated: “Biosensors will routinely be able to capture not only an individual’s heart rate, body temperature, and movement, but also brain activity, moods, and emotions.

“These data can, in turn, be combined with personal information from other sources—including health-care providers and drug companies—raising such potential harms as discriminatory profiling, manipulative marketing, and security  breaches.”

There are fears that personal information could get into the hands of personal healthcare insurance companies and your employers’ too, who may use the information to discriminate against you.

The report found that using the personal information "could enable profiling and discrimination—based on ethnicity, age, gender, medical condition, and other information—across a spectrum of fields, such as employment, education, insurance, finance, criminal justice, and social services, affecting not only individuals but also groups and society at large".

...

                                                                                     

 

Edited December 19, 2016 by monroe

[Tommy]

That's why I try to stay as low profile as possible. Sheeple love the internet of things but never think of the consequences connecting your entire life to the internet can be. The internet isn't foul-proof by any means. Remember, the Titanic was said to be unsinkable. Well, it sunk. Human arrogance can say whatever it wants to, but that doesn't always mean it's the truth. My believing is that any computer or device connected to the internet can get hacked if someone tries hard enough, regardless of how many firewalls and security measures are put into place. It's foolishness to let your guard down and believe you're protected just because it says you are. Think that even if you lock the doors to your own home with several security bolts and that you built your home without windows that there's no way in? I'm sure a semi or tank rammed into it could get in. Nothing is completely infallible.

[Dibya]

Oh! For sake of heaven these companies should not do so. I got a samsung gear from my parental uncle in my previous birthday for Gracioussssss heaven being my lumia 725 incompatible i have not used it . OH god i saved my self.

Thanks for report