Wearables provide public health and security teams onboard Royal Caribbean with a solid means of contact tracing, but the future may be in facial recognition.

Italian bottling company S.I.BE.G. srl invested in wearables for two of its plant and its headquarters locations to help with contact-tracing as well as ensure employees and visitors adhere to social-distancing guidelines. 

New research from Unisys Corporation reveals that law enforcement is expected to lead the incorporation of biometrics into wearable technology. 

Visa Inc. introduced the first payment wearable ring backed by a Visa account for use at the Rio 2016 Olympic games.

Some of the more popular sports wearables are letting other people track you, according to a report on fitness-tracking devices from eight manufacturers, along with their companion mobile apps.
 

THE MAJORITY OF U.S. CONSUMERS (94 PERCENT) have heard or read about major retailer data breaches in the past year, and three-quarters say retailer data breaches have increased their level of concern about personal data privacy, and 61 percent characterize their data management as “Take-Charge” instead of Reactive (26 percent) or Passive (11 percent), but despite these reservations, consumers are changing very little about their key shopping habits.

Only 45 percent of consumers have changed an online password or PIN code in the past year after learning of data breaches; 15 percent made fewer online purchases on mobile devices; and 28 percent shopped less frequently at a retailer that had suffered a data breach.

An organization has to look at the whole picture when thinking about the risks and acceptable use policy regarding wearable technology.