Who owns your health data in the age of Artificial Intelligence?

Digitizing health data is great for early detection of diseases, until it preys on our privacy. Gina Neff asks in a Wired piece the legitimate question of who owns your health records if you are using a mobile application that collects them or a wearable device to monitor your heart rate or steps you walked. It becomes even more legitimate especially when you learn that over 110 mn wearable sensors were sold globally in 2015. “Unlike health information collected and provided to healthcare professionals, the consumer digital data on fitness or health gathered by tech companies enjoys practically no protection,” writes Neff. And we don’t have access to the data generated about our health, because we simply don’t know which are actually being collected. “Some technology companies argue that mandating consumer control of data will have a chilling effect on their business models or their proprietary company information. But public health benefits are potentially too high.”