FTC Commissioner Brill warns on mobile health-data gathering

Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill expressed concern about the way apps on smartphones and mobile devices are siphoning sensitive health data, and how some of that information may then be shared with third parties.

Commissioner Brill said that many companies now prefer to focus on how data is used, because that is where "the rubber hits the road when it comes to patient harm."

Developers should give consumers more tools and "robust choice mechanisms" before any sensitive data is collected and stored. "We don't know where that information ultimately goes," Commissioner Brill said. "It makes consumers uncomfortable.