Lock up your Children!

Lock up your Children!

Do not wear a smart watch or fitness tracker or buy one for others.

In March this year we wrote an article for The Australian about the dangerous combination of wearable technologies that tracked vital health statistics and moods, the insurance industry, and artificial intelligence.

The scenario we painted was one where health benefits and lower insurance premiums would be used to ‘market’ wearable tracking devices to an unsuspecting population and an unprepared legislature.

Health professionals, we predicted, would promote the likely reduction in adverse ‘episodes’ or ‘events’, while insurers would offer lower premiums to those who ‘met the goals’ and nobody will look further than the immediate and obvious benefits.

But a bleak future for society is easily painted and frighteningly close.

Fast forward a decade or two, and in my childrens’ lifetime, insurers are making billions by reducing their risks, insuring those that wear the devices. At the same time there’s a cohort of the population who had been wearing them but no longer need to because the insurers have discovered how unhealthy or genetically predisposed to poor health they were, refusing to insure them. These ‘uninsureds’ cannot attract a partner, or secure a job because no employer wants to take the risk either (or their insurers won’t let them) and lo-and-behold we give birth to an underclass.

Patent applications indicate Apple would like to analyse the tone of your voice to determine if you are happy, sad or angry. Tracking your mood is billed as being necessary to send targeted ads to you. AAMI’s Safe Driver app appears to be a game that gives you points for safe driving. But what else could Apple do with information about your mood? AAMI’s app is claimed to surreptitiously track hard braking, hard acceleration and whether you are using your phone while driving.

Have an accident in the future while angry and accelerating hard, and the other driver might never be at fault.

You might decide in the future to throw your wearable tracking device in the garbage bin. Too late – everything has already been recorded, from the moment you turned on that seemingly innocuous device you received for Christmas (or were ‘issued’ by your insurer).

The purpose of today’s blog post is to point out that the Australian Financial Review today reports that; “A watch that watches your health could save you money”.

On page 7 of today’s AFR, journalist Ruth Liew reports: “Your being watched. Your breathing, heartbeats, the hours that you sleep and wake are being monitored by an intel-built smart watch on your wrist.”

“And if your proven to be healthy and hit the set goals, you could save hundreds of dollars in insurance premiums each year.”

“That is the new proposition by life insurance giant MLC, which has become Australia’s first insurer to use smart watch technology to track customer’ habits and reward them for good behavior.”

“David Hackett, executive general manager insurance at MLC: “It’s a potential game changer for the industry. For too long, companies have relied on old ways to do business.”

Most worryingly, the AFR reports unwitting government complicity; “The Federal Government has opened the door to allowing companies to offer different health premiums to customers based on their personal risk factors.”

So will my premium rise and will I be priced out of life and or health insurance altogether if I chose not to wear a device?

It will be hard to resist the imminent massive global momentum that pushes you towards compliance and we haven’t even discussed the warnings about artificial intelligence and what AI might do with your personal health information.

But resisting compliance today might just be a better outcome for society in the long run.

You can read the Australian article here.

Roger Montgomery is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Montgomery Investment Management. To invest with Montgomery domestically and globally, find out more.

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Roger Montgomery is the Founder and Chairman of Montgomery Investment Management. Roger has over three decades of experience in funds management and related activities, including equities analysis, equity and derivatives strategy, trading and stockbroking. Prior to establishing Montgomery, Roger held positions at Ord Minnett Jardine Fleming, BT (Australia) Limited and Merrill Lynch.

This post was contributed by a representative of Montgomery Investment Management Pty Limited (AFSL No. 354564). The principal purpose of this post is to provide factual information and not provide financial product advice. Additionally, the information provided is not intended to provide any recommendation or opinion about any financial product. Any commentary and statements of opinion however may contain general advice only that is prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial circumstances or needs. Because of this, before acting on any of the information provided, you should always consider its appropriateness in light of your personal objectives, financial circumstances and needs and should consider seeking independent advice from a financial advisor if necessary before making any decisions. This post specifically excludes personal advice.