Fitness trackers can reveal intimate details about your personal life

The data captured by your FitBit or health monitoring app may be used for more than simply encouraging you to increase your step count.

Director Brett Gaylor travels to the outskirts of Paris where four young roommates try out fitness trackers for the first time and allow him to monitor their health data. He finds out much more about their lives than they were expecting — what time they go to bed, when they go to the convenience store for a late night snack, and who’s sleeping with whom.

But what happens when the data is obtained by third-party companies? Some health insurance companies and corporate “wellness” programs are asking clients to share health data obtained from fitness trackers. But that data could be used to make decisions about how much your health insurance should cost and whether or not they will insure you at all.

Watch the video above for the full story.

The Internet of Everything from CBC Docs POV is a fast, funny and enlightening look at what happens when we opt for the convenience of connected “smart” objects, without fully understanding the consequences for our health, our communities, or the planet.

Watch The Internet of Everything on CBC Docs POV.

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