This paper presents a literature review on the ethics of self-tracking technologies which are utilized by users to monitor parameters related to their activity and bodily parameters. By examining a total of 65 works extracted through a systematic database search and backwards snowballing, the authors of this review discuss three categories of opportunities and ten categories of concerns currently associated with self-tracking. The former include empowerment and well-being, contribution to health goals, and solidarity. The latter are social harms, privacy and (...) surveillance, ownership control and commodification of data, autonomy, data-facilitated harm, datafication and interpretability of data, negative impact on relation to self and others, shortcomings of design, negative impact on health perception, and regulation and enforcement of rules. The review concludes with a critical analysis of the existing literature and an overview of a future research agenda that could complement the current work on ethics of self-tracking. (shrink)

Problem Self-tracking—and of course also health-related self-tracking—has an influence on those who use it. This influence can (but does not necessarily have to) pose a threat to the autonomy of people tracking themselves. Argumentation Self-tracking can easily come into conflict with one of the three conditions for autonomy defined by Beauchamp, Faden, and Childress: voluntariness. Based on a distinction between different forms of manipulative influence—mildly controlling and substantially controlling—I will argue that health-related self-tracking often has a mildly controlling influence but (...) that it can also turn into a substantially controlling manipulative influence and even become coercive. Conclusion Substantially manipulative self-tracking and self-tracking that involves coercion is a violation of the condition of voluntariness set for autonomy. This risk of violating autonomy must be taken into account when assessing health-related self-tracking. (shrink)

Purpose This paper explores and identifies customer-value-related sacrifices that consumers attach to interactive health/life insurance. This paper aims to increase understanding of why individual consumers are not willing to embrace behaviour-tracking-based insurance applications. Design/methodology/approach The authors analysed data from a qualitative survey of Finnish insurance consumers who were not keen on adopting interactive insurance products. Findings Developed through thematic analysis, the framework presented in this paper illustrates consumers’ value sacrifices on four dimensions: economic, functional, emotional and symbolic value. Research limitations/implications (...) The framework and insights emerging in the study hold several implications related to increased understanding of consumers’ perceptions of insurance and to developing interactive insurance services. In addition, this work provides a promising foundation and avenues for further considerations related to digital ethics in insurance. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first piece applying a value sacrifice perspective in studying consumers’ unwillingness to adopt interactive insurance products. (shrink)