Friday, December 25, 2015

FitBit

I got a FitBit wrist band for Christmas today, and thought it was a cool idea, as I have been working on my own Diet 1 blog.

That is I thought it was cool until I downloaded the app for my phone. Like all apps the permissions acceptance box popped up, and I started to read it. Like many apps now, if you accept, you are giving the app, and whoever controls it nearly total access to all information on your phone. And permission to modify that information.
Needless to say, my FitBit will stay in the box, and I may pass it on to some one who does not care much for their privacy.
For those who scoff at my paranoia, here is an excerpt from and article in Mother Jones.

If there's one entity that knows the value of the health data uploaded to these devices, it's the CIA. Last year, at a data conference in New York, the CIA's chief technology officer, Ira Hunt, gave a talk on big data. During the discussion, he told the crowd that he carries a Fitbit. "We like these things," he said. "What’s really most intriguing is that you can be 100% guaranteed to be identified by simply your gait—how you walk."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/are-fitbit-nike-and-garmin-selling-your-personal-fitness-data

No comments:

Post a Comment