Data Privacy Concerns
Although big data is a valuable tool for analysing broad trends, individual intrusions into private, personal data raise important privacy questions for regulators.
Life insurance company John Hancock has been in the spotlight this week after announcing that in future all of their insurance policies in the United States will include Vitality – an interactive, game-like element that encourages customers to wear a fitness-tracker and share their data. More active customers can see their premiums drop by up to 15%, and other rewards for adhering to a John Hancock approved healthy lifestyle include retail discounts and gift cards.
Fitness-trackers give real-time insights into the most intimate aspects of your existence – where you go, how fast your heart is beating, when and where you sleep – leading to significant concerns about privacy precedents and unintended consequences. Currently Vitality is not compulsory, however, there is a concern that in the long run people disinclined to share fitness data may risk being cut off from insurance coverage completely.
While companies have been utilising data to profile consumers and target adverts for a while, this step into analysing such personal individual data is a new development, raising a range of privacy issues that regulators will no doubt be considering…. right?
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