It will be interesting to see how Google uses the fitbit data. I could see them synchronizing a user's searches with their heartbeat information to try to gauge emotional response to topics.
That's a trend in computing. It's forever too hard, until all of a sudden it isn't for a very select few and they do amazing things[1]. Then a year or two later everyone is doing it.
1: Amazing is relative, and in this case may be less about customers getting something amazing and more about to the execs looking at amazing profit reports...
If Fitbit just stored your personal fitbit data in a data lake in the cloud, that's not covered by HIPAA. But if it then shared that data with a service that made suggestions about your health, now it's covered by HIPAA. But if Fitbit allowed your smartphone to download your data, and gave you an app that allowed you personally to see health-related information about that data, that is (afaik) not covered by HIPAA, because you and your phone alone are not a Covered Entity or Business Associate.
Fitbit has a "health solutions" department which seems dedicated to healthcare solutions based on Fitbit data: https://healthsolutions.fitbit.com/ My guess is anything HIPAA-related is solely done through that arm of the company. Example: https://healthsolutions.fitbit.com/healthsystems/ I take this as them saying, "Hey Covered Entities, sign a Business Associate contract with us, and you can hoover up Fitbit data directly from us". By writing some glue code and doing the HIPAA hokey-pokey, they make a tidy profit.
Regulations are often implemented as a set of specific hard rules based on specific values (so it's easy to rule about them). The systems they regulate are almost always never so clear, and are based on competing gradients. Where these rules interact with natural systems (such as a free market) are often some of the most lucrative places for companies to develop new strategies.
Where some people see rules that prevent or kill existing businesses, other people see an opportunity for a new type of business. The whole financial sector is rife with companies that do just this. A simple example of how it could happen in this case is that there may be some non HIPAA covered data (that people may or may not think of as health data at this point in time) mixed in with the HIPAA data, and very carefully harvesting and monetizing that could be lucrative. Maybe later laws are updated to change this, or maybe it becomes the new normal.
What they currently do with the fitness data they collect is probably a pretty good guidepost for what they'll continue to do with fitness data they collect.
And this is why you have to carefully read privacy policies. Pebble had a clause in theirs saying they could sell any personal data about you to anyone, either as part of a company acquisition or for any other reason. Pebble got bought out by Fitbit. If that data is part of Fitbit's sale then Google will now have all data Pebble ever collected on anyone (which was, at least potentially, a lot).
Now, that is for data that has no special legal protections. Whereas medical data is, for good reasons, subject to pretty heavy handed laws. Differing quite dramatically across all the diverse jurisdictions Google runs in. Sure, I have no clue what my employer's grand plan is here, but it will surprise me very strongly if medical data starts finding its way to established products. And note this is "medical data" according to the conservative common denominator across all the jurisdictions Google has to care about.
It's just as likely they want to use fitbit brand to set the bar for android wearable portfolio, like they do with the Pixel for phones, than harvesting your daily steps for targeted advertising.
Anyway, Health is the next up and coming tech market. That's why Amazon just acquired Health Navigator and is rolling it up under Amazon Care (https://amazon.care/). Google [Alphabet] isn't just going to leave money on the table (and healthcare is lotsa lotsa money)
Could opting into an app that uses heartbeat for non-health purposes (ex. music game with biofeedback) open the door legally for them to use the data for other non-health purposes?
I have stopped using all google services except for search and YouTube. Apple Maps is fine now, if you need a free email account, you can get one on iCloud.com.
Who are these soulless marketing execs that are OK with using this type of extremely personal health data!? There should be a moral objection, which evidently isn’t there. That’s more horrifying.
If we eliminate homicides in the world, our morals wont change about killing another person. Eliminating the problem or how long it’s been a problem has nothing to do with morality.
This is now the new normal. Pretty sure whatever is now weird will soon be normal too, given a spreadsheet or two to push it through.
(Heinlein was not nearly imaginative enough about the Crazy Years, no one could be. Might as well blame him for not thinking of the "Walk on Your Hands" thing.)
and
data and location from fitbit owners < what they can already get from the andriod phone.
I get the point you are making, I am not denying there is value, but it is a stretch that it is all about data.
In fact, I have heard about companies who had ties with Fitbit to sell location data to third parties. I would much rather have Google be that arbitrator.
I don't work for Google or Fitbit.
The whole strategy behind the Pixel phone was to change the perception of the android brand as a cheap, bloatware'd device for tech dudes. Releasing a recognizable, high quality wearable line fits in with that strategy.
The hard part for Google is delivering on end-to-end encryption for messages that don't leave their messaging system (similar to Apple's blue bubbles). They really, really want to see what people are saying to each other.