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Every Breath You Take, Every Move You Make: The Hidden Costs of a $500B Market Centered on Our Bodies

Study of booming market shows how sharing and exploitation of health and biometric data fuels everything from insurance hikes to workplace discrimination (BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, NOVEMBER 20) — Health-related cybersecurity breaches and ransom attacks have skyrocketed more than 4000% – from 18 incidents in 2009 to 745 in 2023 in the United States only, targeting a booming market of body-centric data expected to exceed $500 billion by 2030, according to new research from Mozilla Fellow, Júlia Keserű.Keserű’s research, "Skin to Screen: Bodily Integrity in the Digital Age”is part of her senior Fellowship project at Mozilla; the fellowship brings together experts working to advance openness and accountability in AI and promote an ethical, responsible, and inclusive digital environment.The research examines the collection of what Keserű calls “body-centric data” which has experienced a dramatic surge since the COVID-19 pandemic and with the rise of sophisticated AI tools. Body centric data includes information about people’s biological and psychological characteristics — from fingerprints used to unlock phones and face scans for security to intimate data from fitness and fertility trackers, mental health apps, and digital medical records. However, this expansion also fuels significant risks: breaches in health data, widespread surveillance, discrimination, and exploitation by AI-driven systems have exposed major gaps in existing legal protections.The research also features a survey conducted by Keserű, which confirmed widespread public anxiety about body-centric data sharing, with most respondents feeling "betrayed" and "exploited" by unauthorized data sharing. While users value health-related benefits and are willing to donate their data for scientific research, they expressed significant anger and fear about their data being used for profit without their consent, especially in sensitive contexts like mental or reproductive health." Most participants demanded stronger controls and protections, and a lot more transparency in how their data is handled by companies. READ RESEARCH In spite of concerns, the study finds that the market for body-centric data has surged drastically, with the biometric industry alone projected to reach $200 billion by 2032. For context, the global pharmaceutical industry was valued at approximately $1.5 trillion in 2022. Keserű’s research warns that as companies collect more sensitive data about our bodies and minds, current laws offer little protection against the growing harms.Some key findings and reported harms include:Cybersecurity Threats and Privacy Violations: Growing security breaches and consent violations can have very serious implications, especially in contexts like reproductive or mental health. For instance, information about fertility and period cycles is often sold to third parties - which can lead to litigation if someone is suspected of having an abortion in a repressive context.Discrimination and Bias: Data-driven discrimination is also on the rise. AI-driven diagnostic tools are trained on able-bodied white populations, demonstrating lower accuracy for darker-skinned patients, compounding disparities in healthcare, and fueling distrust. AI-powered recruitment tools frequently discriminate against neurodivergent people by trying to measure traits like optimism or emotional stability.Your Emotions aren’t Private: Emotion recognition technologies, which assess and interpret human emotions through various biometric features, are becoming essential across multiple sectors, driven by the rapid expansion of body-centric data collection. These methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated, operating similarly to lie detectors, particularly with the growing use of multi-modal

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