This Article has been written by Nupur Shah, 5th Year at Pravin Gandhi College of Law, Mumbai
INTRODUCTION
We live in a technology-driven era, every other day there is a new device or process that is being introduced to us. Fitness has been the centre of attraction for many of us. There is a new wave of wearables in the market with fitness trackers managing to attract everyone’s attention. Where we started with different devices like pedometers, heartbeat tracker, calorie tracker; also different machines to keep a track of one’s blood pressure, etc. are now all clubbed into one small device that is light in weight and portable.
Wearable technology or smart wear or fashion electronics are smart electronic devices that are worn close to or on the surface of the skin that detects analyses and transmits information concerning the body and delivers immediate feedback to the wearers. Wearables also known as activity trackers are good examples of internet things that do not require human effort since such things are effectors as electronic, software, sensors, and connectivity that enable objects to exchange data through the internet. Wearables technology is mostly famous as smartwatches and activity trackers but apart from these two navigation systems, advanced textiles and healthcare are the budding industries where wearable technology is being incorporated.
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TYPES OF WEARABLES
Smartwatches- The most widely and commonly known and used wearable technology are Smart watches. Connecting the smartwatch to a smart phone enables the wearer to send and receive messages without the need to hold a phone, monitor their exercise routine, blood pressure, heart rate, etc. in one small device.
Smart Jewellery- The on-going research shows that smart jewelry is the logical conclusion for including health-tracking into smaller devices. The most known smart jewelry at the moment is a smart ring which helps to track health data which the wearers can view on their smartphones. More such smart jewelry is being tested for being included in the wearables category. As compared to a smartwatch, smart jewelry may offer a less intrusive means of monitoring one’s health in the office, without compromising the health insights that one can obtain.
Fitness trackers- There is very little difference now between fitness trackers and smartwatches. Fitness trackers track steps taken, heart rate, calories burned, blood pressure acts as a breath analyzer, and other wide range of other fitness metrics. They are modern pedometers.
Smart Clothing- With smart clothing, the advantage is that it touches a larger part of the body over smaller devices and hence can collect in-depth data. It will enable advanced tracking in both medical care as well as lifestyle improvement. Brands like Samsung are extensively researching in this field and filed patents for smart t-shirts and if they get approved Samsung may come out with smart t-shirts capable of detecting respiratory problems. Other products that are already in the market for purchase are Nadi X smart pants by Wearable X which are yoga pants that vibrate to improve your form in yoga, Naviano swimwear that provides alert which provides alerts to the wearer as to when to apply sunscreen, and more such products.
Implantables- Implantables get in touch with the human body internally rather than on the skin. Like the sensor- containing pills that monitors blood pressure and other health-related problems. The patient swallows pills and they can then track monitor what’s going on inside through an external device. Companies making such technology have to clarify a lot of policies.
Head-mounted displays (HMDs) - As the name suggests head-mounted displays go on head and present a real view to the wearers without them having to look down at phones through the way of Augmented Reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR). Useful HMD devices exist separately from AR and VR HMDs. For example, Vufine produces smart glasses that allow users to view the video output of devices like drones in real-time.
LEGAL ISSUES RELATED TO WEARABLES
When we speak about wearables and the legality issues related to them, they were not considered for a long period. Importance was placed on criteria like wearability, ease of use, design, functionality, and price of the wearable. But the attitude of consumers has changed because of the increasing awareness on issues of privacy. Data protection and Intellectual property (IP) issues are important in this context.
The IP issues appear on the face quite evidently and are manageable to a certain extent legally and commercially both. But the Data protection issue is larger because of the characteristics of wearable. They hold a considerable amount of data of the wearers and their increased market presence has raised various controversies and higher data concerns. Because of the benefits they provide, people are ready to buy them even if it means compromising personal data. What is included in personal data is the big question here? Personal data under Indian laws and rules are termed “personal information.” Personal information has been defined under the Rules as “any information that relates to a natural person, which either directly or indirectly, in combination with other information available or likely to be available with a body corporate, is capable of identifying such person”. The PDP Bill proposes a similar definition but extends it to include any inference drawn from such data for profiling.[1] So whatever data that the wearables collect qualifies as personal data of the wearer. The data collected will not only be personal data but also sensitive data and personality profiles. Most of the wearables are used for fitness and healthcare purposes which are two categories of sensitive personal data and it’s a complex issue for such sensitive data to be out there. Such data collected by wearables can be widely used for different reasons like marketing, research, etc. The data that is collected is divided into three categories i.e. the processor, the wearer from whom it is collected, and the third party. The problem here is the data collected for processing might not even be of the wearer but of the third party who is unaware that their data is being processed. Most wearable devices are connected to mobile apps these days which also collects and sells data of the users.
The self-responsibility falls on the users of the data and applications related to the device as the users should be aware of the privacy issues and understand how to address them responsibly. Technology changes each day and helps us grow and learn new things. Privacy will always be an issue until we find some strict rules for the same. But we cannot deny that we enjoy the benefits that these devices provide us and how useful they are to us in our day to day life.
[1]TalwarThakore& Associates, Data Protected- India, March 2020. (https://www.linklaters.com/en/insights/data-protected/data-protected---india#:~:text=Personal%20Data,-What%20is%20personal&text=Personal%20information%20has%20been%20defined,capable%20of%20identifying%20such%20person%E2%80%9D.)
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