OT: Biometric Data on Athletes

MLB Approves Bio-metric Monitoring

I was reading this article about Major League Baseball approving a biometric monitoring device that players will be allowed to wear, and the data shared between player and teams. Also sounds like the NBA is close to pursuing this technology as well. It sounds like there are alot of details still to be worked out on what will or will not be shared but two things jumped out at me from this article.

First, the article informed me that Bio-metric Data is not currently covered under HIPAA.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which protects patients from having their medical information shared, does not currently apply to bio-metric data.

Thats kind of scary because then what protections are there in place for anyone that wears one of these devices, especially if they are wearing it at the request of a medical professional. What implications could those devices have on people long term?

Second thing from the article that jumped out at me was that Nike recently added Biometric Data to its licensing package with Tennessee and Michigan.

The news received relatively little attention, but two of Nike's recent college contracts -- Michigan and Tennessee -- gave Nike the rights to bio-metric player data.

I could understand the schools wanting to monitor the data as they have been with concussions and contact using sensor technology but I am not sure that I think that college players should be required to have what amounts to medical data shared with a major corporation. Seems like a bit of a stretch to the "but they are on scholarship" thought process.

Just figured I would throw it out there to get others thoughts on this.