Politico – Tech giants move to protect wearables
“You can’t treat FitBit health data the same way you treat your BlueCross BlueShield data,” said Carl M. Szabo of Netchoice, an e-commerce trade association that represents leading tech companies. “Health apps are not a one-size-fits-all category.”
When it comes to new streams of health information coming at consumers, FTC and legislators should “first do no harm,” Szabo said. His group lobbied the FTC on consumer generated health data this year, according to a filing with the Senate from July.
“A knee-jerk reaction inhibits innovative uses of this information,” Szabo said. “It all comes back to focusing on the kind of harms you’re trying to prevent.”
“Do I see a need for further legislation? No,” Szabo said. “It all goes back to education—explaining what we do, and the user controls we make available.”