2 responses to “Digital Identity Digest (September)”

  1. Rie Namba

    The last digest is an interesting one – I think not a lot of people feel comfortable sharing data about their BMI or weight.
    I remember I had a PE teacher who decided to collect data of all classmates’ weight, make it into graph and show it in front of whole class. Thinking about that, that was a pretty serious privacy evasion…..and we had no choice to opt out since it was part of the classroom activity…

    I am guessing the fitness app companies- are doing similar things as my PE teacher- but in a much bigger scale and maybe even collecting data other than BMI or weight without informing users.

    1. bryan short

      Hey Rie,

      You got it. Worst case scenario is someone being scrutinized by an insurance company because of an unknown and undiagnosed medical ailment that was detected through these health and fitness applications. Imagine: applying for health insurance, and a provider tells you that you’re going to have to pay a higher premium, or just flat out rejecting your application, because some data that they purchased suggests that you’re a risky investment?

      Banks are already searching for people online before making lending decisions about loan candidates. They’re collecting personal information through social media accounts and building profiles that assess risk based on musical taste and other highly subjective categories. These outcomes are frighteningly realistic!

      Bryan

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