Ethical guidelines related to wearable devices: a literature review
Abstract
This study presents a literature review of ethical guidelines applicable to wearable devices, whose growing adoption raises important concerns regarding user data privacy and security. These devices, by collecting personal information, may pose privacy risks such as unintentional data sharing or vulnerabilities to data breaches. The study aims to map the main ethical guidelines focused on the security and privacy of wearable device users, analyzing existing solutions and strategies. The review included publications from 2014 to 2024, totaling 16 materials analyzed. The results indicate a variety of proposals, including comprehensive regulations and specific measures such as the implementation of encryption. The combination of these approaches offers greater security and better protection of user privacy.
Keywords:
Wearable devices, ethical guidelines, data privacy
References
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F John Dian, Reza Vahidnia, and Alireza Rahmati. 2020. Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT), applications, opportunities, and challenges: A Survey. IEEE access 8 (2020), 69200–69211.
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Charlotte Christina Roossien, Marlon de Jong, Anne Maria Bonvanie, and Els Lisette Maria Maeckelberghe. 2021. Ethics in design and implementation of technologies for workplace health promotion: a call for discussion. Frontiers in Digital Health 3 (2021), 644539.
Suranga Seneviratne, Yining Hu, Tham Nguyen, Guohao Lan, Sara Khalifa, Kanchana Thilakarathna, Mahbub Hassan, and Aruna Seneviratne. 2017. A survey of wearable devices and challenges. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 19, 4 (2017), 2573–2620.
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Anna Sui, Wuyou Sui, Sam Liu, and Ryan Rhodes. 2023. Ethical considerations for the use of consumer wearables in health research. Digital Health 9 (2023), 20552076231153740.
James Thomas and Angela Harden. 2008. Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC medical research methodology 8 (2008), 1–10.
Dirk Van Der Linden, Anna Zamansky, Irit Hadar, Barnaby Craggs, and Awais Rashid. 2019. Buddy’s wearable is not your buddy: Privacy implications of pet wearables. IEEE Security & Privacy 17, 3 (2019), 28–39.
Yan Wang. 2024. The Design Dilemma of Personalized Health Applications: the Balance Between Meeting User Needs and Data Security. EAI. DOI: 10.4108/eai.15-3-2024.2346385
Chen Yang, Tingting Liu, Lulu Zuo, and Zhiyong Hao. 2019. An empirical study on the data security and privacy awareness to use health care wearable devices. In 2019 16th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM). IEEE, 1–6.
Minghui Yang, Junqi Guo, and Ludi Bai. 2020. A data privacy-preserving method for students’ physical health monitoring by using smart wearable devices. In 2020 IEEE Intl Conf on Dependable, Autonomic and Secure Computing, Intl Conf on Pervasive Intelligence and Computing, Intl Conf on Cloud and Big Data Computing, Intl Conf on Cyber Science and Technology Congress (DASC/PiCom/CBDCom/CyberSciTech). IEEE, 29–34.
Orlando Arias, JacobWurm, Khoa Hoang, and Yier Jin. 2015. Privacy and security in internet of things and wearable devices. IEEE transactions on multi-scale computing systems 1, 2 (2015), 99–109.
F John Dian, Reza Vahidnia, and Alireza Rahmati. 2020. Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT), applications, opportunities, and challenges: A Survey. IEEE access 8 (2020), 69200–69211.
Brian M Gaff. 2015. Legal issues with wearable technology. Computer 48, 09 (2015), 10–12.
Michael Gusenbauer and Neal R Haddaway. 2020. Which academic search systems are suitable for systematic reviews or meta-analyses? Evaluating retrieval qualities of Google Scholar, PubMed, and 26 other resources. Research Synthesis Methods 11, 2 (2020), 181–217. DOI: 10.1002/jrsm.1378
Neal R Haddaway, Alexandra M Collins, Deborah Coughlin, and Stuart Kirk. 2015. The role of Google Scholar in evidence reviews and its applicability to grey literature searching. PLOS ONE 10, 9 (2015), e0138237. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138237
Byron Lowens, Vivian Genaro Motti, and Kelly Caine. 2017. Wearable privacy: Skeletons in the data closet. In 2017 IEEE international conference on healthcare informatics (ICHI). IEEE, 295–304.
Lívia Luize Marengo, Alan Martinez Kozyreff, FDS Moraes, Laura Inês Gomes Maricato, and Silvio Barberato-Filho. 2022. Mobile technologies in healthcare: reflections on development, application, legal aspects, and ethicsTecnologías sanitarias móviles: reflexiones sobre desarrollo, aplicación, legislación y ética. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica= Pan American Journal of Public Health 46 (2022), e37–e37.
Tze Ming Mok, Flora Cornish, and Jen Tarr. 2015. Too much information: visual research ethics in the age of wearable cameras. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science 49 (2015), 309–322.
Alfredo J Perez and Sherali Zeadally. 2017. Privacy issues and solutions for consumer wearables. It Professional 20, 4 (2017), 46–56.
Eileen Plogsties. 2023. Balancing Wearables in the Workplace: Protecting Privacy and Human Rights-a Legal Analysis within the European Legal Framework. (2023).
shujie Qu and xiang Gao. 2020. Analysis of Ethical Issues Involved in Wearable Equipment for Health Care. In 2020 International Conference on Public Health and Data Science (ICPHDS). IEEE, 406–410.
Charlotte Christina Roossien, Marlon de Jong, Anne Maria Bonvanie, and Els Lisette Maria Maeckelberghe. 2021. Ethics in design and implementation of technologies for workplace health promotion: a call for discussion. Frontiers in Digital Health 3 (2021), 644539.
Suranga Seneviratne, Yining Hu, Tham Nguyen, Guohao Lan, Sara Khalifa, Kanchana Thilakarathna, Mahbub Hassan, and Aruna Seneviratne. 2017. A survey of wearable devices and challenges. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 19, 4 (2017), 2573–2620.
Statista. 2024. Market share of wearables unit shipments worldwide from 2014 to 2022, by vendor. [link]. Accessed: November 5, 2024.
Anna Sui, Wuyou Sui, Sam Liu, and Ryan Rhodes. 2023. Ethical considerations for the use of consumer wearables in health research. Digital Health 9 (2023), 20552076231153740.
James Thomas and Angela Harden. 2008. Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC medical research methodology 8 (2008), 1–10.
Dirk Van Der Linden, Anna Zamansky, Irit Hadar, Barnaby Craggs, and Awais Rashid. 2019. Buddy’s wearable is not your buddy: Privacy implications of pet wearables. IEEE Security & Privacy 17, 3 (2019), 28–39.
Yan Wang. 2024. The Design Dilemma of Personalized Health Applications: the Balance Between Meeting User Needs and Data Security. EAI. DOI: 10.4108/eai.15-3-2024.2346385
Chen Yang, Tingting Liu, Lulu Zuo, and Zhiyong Hao. 2019. An empirical study on the data security and privacy awareness to use health care wearable devices. In 2019 16th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM). IEEE, 1–6.
Minghui Yang, Junqi Guo, and Ludi Bai. 2020. A data privacy-preserving method for students’ physical health monitoring by using smart wearable devices. In 2020 IEEE Intl Conf on Dependable, Autonomic and Secure Computing, Intl Conf on Pervasive Intelligence and Computing, Intl Conf on Cloud and Big Data Computing, Intl Conf on Cyber Science and Technology Congress (DASC/PiCom/CBDCom/CyberSciTech). IEEE, 29–34.
Published
2025-06-03
How to Cite
OLIVEIRA, Jayne Silva de; TEIXEIRA, João Marcelo Xavier Natário.
Ethical guidelines related to wearable devices: a literature review. In: ACM INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTERACTIVE MEDIA EXPERIENCES WORKSHOPS (IMXW), 25. , 2025, Niterói/RJ.
Anais [...].
Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação,
2025
.
p. 76-80.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/imxw.2025.1655.
