Federal Trade Commission head Edith Ramirez singled out companies with devices that store personal health information, such as blood-glucose levels, in a talk that highlighted concerns over data security and the Internet of Things.
She recommended a few ways companies could build consumer trust in the Internet of Things at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
It was a speech that was likely to cause some consternation by folks who point to the government’s hypocrisy on data privacy issues. But it will also resonate with companies who advocate for a policy of being upfront with consumers about how their data is used. It also comes as the FTC prepares to release a report on the Internet of Things, according to The New York Times.
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Ramirez cited a Cisco stat to help drive home her point: this year, there will be 25 billion connected devices in the world, and that includes consumer devices, and particularly health and fitness trackers and wearables.
Ramirez referenced some of the FTC’s concerns about IoT: “ubiquitous data collection; the potential for unexpected uses of consumer data that could have adverse consequences; and heightened security risks.”
“Connected devices that provide increased convenience and improve health services are also collecting, transmitting, storing, and often sharing vast amounts of consumer data, some of it highly personal, thereby creating a number of privacy risks,” she said. “Some of the developers entering the IoT market, unlike hardware and software companies, have not spent decades thinking about how to secure their products and services from hackers… The small size and limited processing power of many connected devices could inhibit encryption and other robust security measures.”
Ramirez spelled out a few ways to address those issues. She said companies should support a privacy by design approach by taking data protection into consideration in the early development of the devices and conversations with developers. It’s a position the FTC espoused back in 2010. It includes doing privacy or security risk assessments early on, test security measures before a product launch and monitor products throughout their life cycle.
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It’s hard to read that speech without thinking about the launch of Healthcare.Gov and the privacy issues it has and continues to generate. But in at least a couple of conversations at CES, I’ve heard company CEOs emphasize transparency and advocating a “don’t be creepy” approach to user data, like Tome CEO Jake Sigal.
Data privacy is obviously an especially hot topic in the healthcare space. The potential pitfalls over data ownership and the ability to secure user privacy are the kind of issues that need to be resolved for wearable adoption to become more mass market. The inconsistent attitudes most of us tend to have about how social networks use our data tend to become much more focused when companies like Facebook talk about adding patient communities.
Although HIPAA wasn’t mentioned anywhere in a copy of the speech from the FTC’s website, it’s the gray area of sensors, remote monitors and wearables that are adding more health features that are likely to be a source of concern in what is setting up to be a robust debate this year. Most responsible companies de-identify user data anyway, frequently for research studies for the benefit of users. I think the data transparency debate will be an increasingly important issue this year. If companies give consumers a general understanding of how their data is used, they’ll be more likely to support it.
