Health Checks by Smartphone Raise Privacy Fears

Authorities and tech developers must stop sensitive health data entered into applications on mobile phones ending up in the wrong hands, experts warn.

As wireless telecom companies gathered in Barcelona this week at the Mobile World Congress, the sector’s biggest trade fair, specialists in “e-health” said healthcare is fast shifting into the connected sphere.

“It’s an inexorable tide that is causing worries because people are introducing their data into the system themselves, without necessarily reading all the terms and conditions,” said Vincent Genet of consultancy Alcimed.

“In a few years, new technology will be able to monitor numerous essential physiological indicators by telephone and to send alerts to patients and the specialists who look after them.”

More and more patients are using smartphone apps to monitor signs such as their blood sugar and pressure. (Read more about the health checks possibly being privacy concerns HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.