Apple, FTC talk about guarding health data

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is in talks with Apple to ensure that sensitive health data collected by its mobile and wearable devices will not be used without owners’ consent.

Apple’s latest iPhone operating system, iOS 8, comes with the HealthKit platform, which allows users to track and share a range of health and medical data points such as diet, exercise and activity across multiple apps and devices. The Apple Watch, which will launch early next year, comes with a heart rate sensor, GPS and accelerometer, which tracks a user’s heart rate, distance traveled, steps taken and calories burned.

With the wealth of user health data to which Apple will have access, the FTC is interested in how the data are used.

Apple said that it has met with the FTC for discussions about its products and privacy, and two people familiar with the matter said that Apple representatives have assured agency officials the company will not sell users’ health data to third parties such as advertisers, nor will it allow third-party developers to do so.

“We designed HealthKit with privacy in mind,” said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller.

Unlike health and medical data patients give to health care providers, most data consumers store in mobile apps are not covered by privacy rules in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

An FTC study from May revealed that a good portion of mobile health app developers collect consumer health data and give them to third parties. The 12 app developers featured in the study were found to have shared user health data with 76 entities, including advertisers.

In Apple’s case, the company tightened its privacy rules in August to ensure data collected through HealthKit would not be used by developers for advertising or data mining. Data logged by the Apple Watch are encrypted, and users must give consent before app developers can access their health information.