What Do Data Broker Sites Know About Your Health and Wellness?
Your medical records and health data are usually protected. Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA,
there are strict regulations about how your health information should
be handled, and who can access it. Despite this, data broker sites and
marketers know more than you would think about your medical history,
often using targeted marketing that seems too accurate to not have your
medical records on hand. From apps to internet searches, online tests to
your wearable health device, your information is tracked and used for
marketing.
Online Depression Tests Share Your Answers
You probably expect your movements across the internet to be tracked by the likes of Google and Facebook, using “cookies” as identifiers. You would assume, however, that health information would be protected against this. Instead, Privacy International found that online depression tests on popular mental health websites were sharing the answers with third parties.
Instead of protecting the information, it is used as a commodity to build a better profile of you. Medical data is highly valuable to data broker sites and commands a high price compared to information such as your address. Your mental health, in other words, is for sale to marketers. One way to combat this is information removal from Whitepages, Spokeo, MyLife, and other data broker sites. You can opt-out of data broker sites individually, or use a service such as DeleteMe, which will do the work for you.
Wearables Collect and Share Health Data
Wearables like an Apple Watch or Fitbit can be great for charting your health information, but these fitness trackers also share health data with their smart device manufacturers. Apple uses your location to sell geographically relevant ads, while Fitbit sells anonymized data. Both allow you to delete data.
Apps Have Access to More Than You Realize
Apps can cause privacy issues because people underestimate just how much access one app can have to the data on their phone. Legitimate apps often share and sell information entered into them, and if they’re breached, can become an access point to other data on a device. Even without a breach, many of the “personal use” health apps don’t fall under the same sorts of privacy laws as official health information, so they’re perfectly free to sell and share your details.
Once your information is sold to a data broker site, it can be bought by anyone, whether they’re marketers or bad actors looking to build a profile about you. You can protect your information by learning how to remove personal information from Google, which makes it much harder to form a profile of you. Opting out of data broker sites means your information is not available to marketers or anyone looking to purchase data on you.
DNA Test Results Often Get Sold
DNA tests have skyrocketed in popularity in the past few years, and DNA evidence can even be useful in law enforcement. However, there is a dark side: Companies that sell at-home DNA tests are more than willing to sell collected data to third parties, especially pharmaceutical and consumer goods companies. The best way to avoid this is not to use DNA tests or to carefully read privacy policies and ensure you’re using a test from a brand that doesn’t sell personal information to third parties.
About DeleteMe
Boston-based DeleteMe sets a high bar in the online privacy and information security industries, to date helping with more than 20 million consumer opt-outs. Their expert privacy team uses in-depth knowledge of opt-out and privacy policies combined with tested strategies and proprietary technology to remove your personal information from data broker sites. In removing your details from over 40 of the biggest data broker sites, they can help remove personal information from Google. For year-round protection of your personal information, choose a DeleteMe subscription, and keep your personal details private.
Learn more about keeping online information private at Joindeleteme.com
Online Depression Tests Share Your Answers
You probably expect your movements across the internet to be tracked by the likes of Google and Facebook, using “cookies” as identifiers. You would assume, however, that health information would be protected against this. Instead, Privacy International found that online depression tests on popular mental health websites were sharing the answers with third parties.
Instead of protecting the information, it is used as a commodity to build a better profile of you. Medical data is highly valuable to data broker sites and commands a high price compared to information such as your address. Your mental health, in other words, is for sale to marketers. One way to combat this is information removal from Whitepages, Spokeo, MyLife, and other data broker sites. You can opt-out of data broker sites individually, or use a service such as DeleteMe, which will do the work for you.
Wearables Collect and Share Health Data
Wearables like an Apple Watch or Fitbit can be great for charting your health information, but these fitness trackers also share health data with their smart device manufacturers. Apple uses your location to sell geographically relevant ads, while Fitbit sells anonymized data. Both allow you to delete data.
Apps Have Access to More Than You Realize
Apps can cause privacy issues because people underestimate just how much access one app can have to the data on their phone. Legitimate apps often share and sell information entered into them, and if they’re breached, can become an access point to other data on a device. Even without a breach, many of the “personal use” health apps don’t fall under the same sorts of privacy laws as official health information, so they’re perfectly free to sell and share your details.
Once your information is sold to a data broker site, it can be bought by anyone, whether they’re marketers or bad actors looking to build a profile about you. You can protect your information by learning how to remove personal information from Google, which makes it much harder to form a profile of you. Opting out of data broker sites means your information is not available to marketers or anyone looking to purchase data on you.
DNA Test Results Often Get Sold
DNA tests have skyrocketed in popularity in the past few years, and DNA evidence can even be useful in law enforcement. However, there is a dark side: Companies that sell at-home DNA tests are more than willing to sell collected data to third parties, especially pharmaceutical and consumer goods companies. The best way to avoid this is not to use DNA tests or to carefully read privacy policies and ensure you’re using a test from a brand that doesn’t sell personal information to third parties.
About DeleteMe
Boston-based DeleteMe sets a high bar in the online privacy and information security industries, to date helping with more than 20 million consumer opt-outs. Their expert privacy team uses in-depth knowledge of opt-out and privacy policies combined with tested strategies and proprietary technology to remove your personal information from data broker sites. In removing your details from over 40 of the biggest data broker sites, they can help remove personal information from Google. For year-round protection of your personal information, choose a DeleteMe subscription, and keep your personal details private.
Learn more about keeping online information private at Joindeleteme.com
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