While applications on cell phones and websites can provide many benefits and convenient advantages, it is important to be aware of how your personal data could be released to third parties. Although Fitness and Health Apps are popular and widespread today, some apps may gather your personal health information not only for your personal use but to ultimately sell it to third parties. Your personal data is valuable to third party companies as they may use this information for marketing or financial risk profiling. For example, your weight, diet or exercise patterns are valuable to third parties and this information could potentially be used against you as third parties are not subject to HIPAA privacy regulations.
While the FDA regulates the safety and effectiveness of these devices, they do not regulate the storage or disclosure of your personal information. Because this area of advancing technology has not been addressed by legislation or litigation, it is important to be aware of the disclosure of your data. Some companies such as Apple have taken steps to protect collected and stored data on their devices, however it is unclear who is monitoring the apps. It is also important to take the time to read electronic contracts as some companies may obtain a consumer's consent to share personal data with third parties.