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- Title
A NEW PRIVACY PARADIGM IN THE AGE OF APPS.
- Authors
Andrews, Lori
- Abstract
Tens of thousands of mobile medical apps are currently available; 58% of Americans use these apps to diagnose, monitor, manage, and even treat health problems and diseases. A wealth of sensitive information is fed into the apps directly by the user and is collected indirectly by the apps. In a unique empirical study, we analyzed the privacy policies and permissions of hundreds of mobile medical apps. Then we intercepted outgoing transmissions to track what happened to the information the apps collected. Our novel methodology allowed us to compare what apps' privacy policies say that the apps (and their developers) do with the users' information with what they actually do-and to assess whether current laws protected that information. Over 70% of the medical apps we studied shared users' sensitive information with third party data aggregators, without the users' knowledge or consent. As a result, users' health data from medical apps was frequently marketed and sold to third parties including advertisers, insurers, and employers. Medical apps currently constitute a gaping hole in the privacy Americans have come to expect when it comes to their personal health information. Mobile health apps are generally not covered by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA"), nor do common law privacy torts adequately cover their privacy breaches. A new privacy paradigm is necessary. This Article sets forth a controversial proposal-a prohibition against medical apps sharing information with data aggregators, marketers, or other third parties except, at the users' explicit request, the users' health care providers. This approach will protect users' privacy and improve the medical quality of apps.
- Subjects
MOBILE apps; MEDICAL care; HEALTH facilities; ADVERTISERS; HEALTH insurance
- Publication
Wake Forest Law Review, 2018, Vol 53, Issue 3, p421
- ISSN
0043-003X
- Publication type
Article