The Federal Trade Commission is worried about Apple's smartwatch. According to a report from Reuters, the regulatory agency is seeking assurances from Apple that it will take appropriate steps to ensure smartwatch-collected health data doesn't get taken or used without owners' consent.
In the past few months, representatives from Apple have met with the FTC to discuss data security, with Apple emphasizing it will not sell data to third-parties or allow third-party developers to sell data.
While the FTC declined to comment, and there are no current indications the FTC plans to launch a formal inquiry, the agency has previously expressed concern over "health data that flows outside of a medical context," according to the report, most of which is not HIPAA-protected.
To address the matter, Apple may be considering hiring an in-house privacy czar, according to an anonymous source in the report. The company is also consulting with a number of health data privacy experts to safeguard its wearables and mobile technology in advance of its future projects in health and wellness, the sources said.
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