Personal Data and Privacy in the Digital Healthcare Age

Silverlight Digital’s CEO Lori Goldberg writes for eConsultancy

For athletes, competitors and data geeks, the opportunities to improve our health through personal data collection have never been more prevalent and affordable.

I use Fitbit religiously to track my steps, heart rate and sleep patterns.

I combine Fitbit with data from MapMyRun and MapMyRide, apps that collect running and biking data from geo-location info in my smartphone.

In the past I’ve used NikeID, which communicates with a chip inside my sneakers to track my run data.

Confession: I once attended a digital media conference and entered a contest to log the most steps on the conference floor. I tied my step-counting device to my ceiling fan and let it go all night.

For some, there is concern that personal health data can be hacked, stolen, or exploited for marketing purposes without consent.

For those of us in the digital advertising sector, we have a responsibility to be clear about where our data comes from, consumer protection laws, as well as the benefits of advancing our health through data collection.

Given this, below is a brief summary of how personal body data is being collected, protected, and used in the digital advertising sector today.