Insufficient sleep results in decreased antibody response to vaccination.Researchers investigate potential links between sleep disturbances and stroke.Over time, the score can show if a person is deviating from their averages. That data - along with goals each consumer sets for sleep - go into creating what the firm calls a Sleep IQ Score, a term devised to assess how well a consumer slept and is used heavily in the company's marketing. Instead, Sleep Number beds gather data through tiny changes in the mattress's air pressure, said Pete Bils, Sleep Number's vice president of sleep science and research. Late last year, there was a collective social media freakout when bloggers noticed a quirk in the Sleep Number bed privacy policy that seemed to indicate those beds had a microphone.īut they don't, the company was quick to note. Some sleep apps and devices made by other firms even use microphones to track snoring. Sleep Number beds have movement sensors, for instance, which can inflate, deflate or otherwise adjust the mattress for comfort. Smart beds and other types of sleep trackers have different sensors. "The raw data may not tell you that, but what they do is take the raw data and try to interpret it." "I can't imagine it wouldn't be possible to look at that data and say, 'Oh, that looks like sex,'" said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, talking about the whole range of sleep-tracking tools. Starting with when you turn in and when you wake up - and many things in between - these beds know a lot.Īnd because it's a bed, there's an inescapable salaciousness factor. When asked about the seeming difference between what the privacy policy states and her comments, Elepano did not address that directly, but reiterated that the company does not share even de-identified biometric data. The policy also says personal information could be given to partners for "research, analysis or administering surveys."įinally, the privacy policy says Sleep Number can "exploit, share and use for any purpose" personal information with names or addresses withheld or stripped out, known as "de-identified" data. They, in turn, could send out pitches for Sleep Number or offers to participate in partner product loyalty programs. Still, that differs from the company's privacy notice, which clearly states that personal information - potentially including biometric data - "may" be shared with marketing companies or business partners. "To be clear, Sleep Number does not share any Sleep IQ or biometric" data outside the company, Sleep Number spokeswoman Julie Elepano said in an email exchange. The company says it goes to great lengths to protect its customers' data. Last year, the bed maker began a multiyear partnership with the NFL, in which the company gives its Sleep Number beds to players. Early this year, the company signed a partnership with Ariana Huffington's Thrive Global, a corporate wellness firm she launched after leaving The Huffington Post in 2016. Sales of the beds grew 6% from 2017 to $1.5 billion in 2018, company filings show. The Sleep Number bed is one of the most heavily marketed of such products, with press releases and ads often equating good sleep with a better life. Nonetheless, consumers are flocking to mattresses and under-mattress sensors aimed at quantifying sleep as well as sleep-tracking devices sleep apps are among the most popular downloads on Apple and Android smartphones. The information "is also relevant and important to pharmaceutical companies and those that make hospital-related technology," Kilic said. "We don't know what happens to all that data," said Burcu Kilic, director of the digital rights program at Public Citizen, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C. Still, consumer privacy advocates are increasingly raising concerns about the fate of personal health information - which is potentially valuable to companies that collect and sell it - gathered through a growing number of internet-connected devices. "This gives us the intelligence to be able to continue to feed our algorithms," CEO Shelly Ibach told attendees at a Fortune Brainstorm Health conference in San Diego last month.Īnalyzing all that personal data, Ibach continued, not only helps consumers learn more about their health, but also aids the company's efforts to make a better product. Sleep Number, one company that makes beds that can track heart rate, respiration and movement, said it collects more than 8 billion biometric data points every night, gathered each second and sent via an app through the internet to the company's servers. It may even be able to tell when you're having sex. (Editor) May 30 2019īut if you have any of a variety of "smart beds," mattress pads or sleep apps, it knows when you go to sleep.
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