The Feds Are Investing in Wearable Health Trackers. That Could Put Your Private Data at Risk.

Source: Reason
by Jeffrey A Singer & Patrick Eddington

“Consider this scenario. You’ve recently received a government-subsidized biowearable. Accordingly, the authorities now know when you’re sleeping, because the device reports your sleep cycle, location, and daily movements in real time to a cloud server accessible through a legal process. It knows when you’re home. It knows when you leave. Those data are then obtained by an FBI field office (either through direct purchase or, if necessary, a legal process), because a federal prosecutor has decided that your criticism of immigration enforcement operations and your social media posts supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters constitute ‘incitement to violence’ against federal agents. Under the Trump administration’s elastic (and legally dubious) domestic terrorism definitions and designations, that is enough to open a criminal investigation. And because the government has known for weeks when you’re at home sleeping, it knows exactly when to break down your door.” (03/19/26)

https://reason.com/2026/03/19/the-feds-are-investing-in-wearable-health-trackers-that-could-put-your-private-data-at-risk/