Towards a Code of Conduct on Privacy for mHealth to Foster Trust Amongst Users of Mobile Health Applications

Abstract

mHealth has the potential to transform health care by providing more timely and universal access to patients' and users' data. However, the potential for continuous patient monitoring and the ubiquitous exchange of sensitive health information, raise important questions about privacy and security. A recent development in the ongoing debate about privacy and mHealth is the Draft Code of Conduct on privacy for mobile health applications. Developed by mHealth industry organisations and facilitated by the European Commission, the Code is expected to foster trust amongst users of mobile applications processing data concerning health (at least where the developers of an mHealth app abide by the Code). This chapter's aim is to present the Code, and, on this basis, analyse the EU's legal framework on mobile technologies processing personal data, including health data.