A UK insurer known as Vitality has vowed to clarify Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) involvement in e-health.
The company has been receiving criticism from privacy groups demanding that it should use a fitness application owned Facebook app to bring back. The application allows users to keep track of their fitness activities as well as keeping a record of the places that they visit.
The app is a definite welcome addition especially in terms of faster access to information, but there are a few problems that might need to be addressed. For instance, how does the application address the vulnerability of the user’s data? Most people will not be comfortable about sharing their personal information with an e-health application. And to think that Facebook had already finished up with the privacy issues that had been addressed a few weeks ago.
This is the predicament that Vitality health insurance has been facing after vowing to give Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) access to user account data through the application. Dr. Paul Bernal, from the University of East Anglia, stressed the need for firms to be more honest about who gains access do data and the kind of data that is accessible. He pointed out that health data can be used against the members in various ways if it falls into the wrong hands. For example, the information can alter insurance premiums or even employment opportunities.
The problem was identified after the health insurer requested its members through an email to download the Moves app if they wanted to maintain the benefits of the scheme. The UK insurance firm had not mentioned anything about the partnership with Facebook in any of its emails or web pages.
The application’s homepage and app store listings had also not indicated any hints towards a relationship with the social network. Many people have thus questioned the intentions of the company by viewing it as an effort to withhold necessary information. The company defended itself by pointing out that it had included a reference to Facebook in the application’s private policy.
