Wearable Technology: Key Legal Implications for Public Health, Privacy, Labor, & More

Fitbit, Scripps, and Stanford are just a few of the players that have recently launched an informal consortium to assess how a wearables approach can be scaled up for a public health response to pandemic outbreaks, such as COVID-19. Wearables have the potential to collect valuable data, such as activity levels, heart rate, and sleep to more quickly detect infectious diseases such as influenza or coronavirus. They have been around for a few years, and have even infiltrated the fashion industry, with smart clothing, jewelry, and accessories. A number of legislative bodies have already responded to the increase in technological innovation and raised privacy concerns. In Spring of 2018, the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, which imposes many obligations on companies that handle EU personal data, went into effect and has caused nations to reexamine their own privacy regulation. Since then, a number of states have followed up with their own legislation, including California with the CA Consumer Privacy Act.

The discussion as to the legal implications of wearables, both to the wearer and its entourage, is therefore of particular importance, along with the policies that are currently transforming the global and domestic regulatory landscape. Wearables implicate a host of privacy, labor, intellectual property, and product liability issues. Such issues will be examined in this lecture, led by attorney Olivera Medenica.

Learning Objectives:

1. Break down an overview of the U.S. Regulatory Landscape

2. Explore the ways in which wearable technology can be developed to support public health initiatives

3. Examine the impact of the GDPR and other new data protection policies at home and abroad

4. Define what constitutes wearable technology

5. Identify the main privacy, IP, and labor and employment considerations and determine best practices for businesses

6. Address product liability considerations for consumers