Among the most sensitive categories of data collected by connected devices are a person’s precise location and information about their health. Smartphones, connected cars, wearable fitness trackers, “smart home” products, and even the browser you’re reading this on are capable of directly observing or deriving sensitive information about users. Standing alone, these data points may pose an incalculable risk to personal privacy. Now consider the unprecedented intrusion when these connected devices and technology companies collect that data combine it, and sell or monetize it. This isn’t the stuff of dystopian fiction. It’s a question consumers are asking right now.
The conversation about technology tends to focus on benefits. But there is a behind-the-scenes irony that needs to be examined in the open: the extent to which highly personal information that people choose not to disclose even to family, friends, or colleagues is actually shared with complete strangers. These strangers participate in the often shadowy ad tech and data broker ecosystem where companies have a profit motive to share data at an unprecedented scale and granularity.
When consumers use their connected devices – and sometimes even when they don’t – these devices may be regularly pinging cell towers, interacting with WiFi networks, capturing GPS signals, and otherwise creating a comprehensive record of their whereabouts. This location data can reveal a lot about people, including where we work, sleep,...
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https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/07/location-health-other-sens...