These wearable technology gadgets are highly popular but may also be used for legal purposes.

Consumers who purchase and use fitness trackers for the purposes of monitoring their health and activity levels may be surprised to discover that those same devices could actually be used against them in a court of law.

This type of wearable technology can monitor a lot about a person, providing useful legal evidence.

Various types of fitness trackers have been flying off the shelves, from Fitbits to Jawbones and smartwatches. They are used to track your steps and calorie burning, as well as your heart rate and sleep, in some cases. However, in a court of law, this can also provide a considerable amount of information to help to determine what the wearer was doing at the time of an incident. According to Bruce Hagen, an attorney from Atlanta whose firm has a specialty in bicycle accident cases, “This is the same as the black box data you would get on a car or a truck or an airplane.” Hagen has been requesting fitness data from his clients for a year.

The fitness trackers help to show how active a person was before an incident occurred.

While the wearable technology was being used to track the wearer’s activity, it can actually provide a record of that individual’s life. Some situations allow the data to be used to reveal how active a person had been, on average, before an accident, and how that trend changed following a crash. This type of data can help to provide evidence with regards to a person’s honesty about the impact an accident has had on their lives or “it can also catch them in a lie if it comes to that,” explained Hagen.

The first time this type of evidence from wearables was ever used was from a case in rural Pennsylvania. As it turned out, the law enforcement officers from the case were the ones who thought of accessing the data from the wearable technology.

The case involved a 911 call in which a Florida woman reported a sexual assault by an unknown intruder while she had been staying at her boss’s home. For a number of reasons, Detective Chris Jones started to doubt the woman’s case as he conducted his investigation. He then realized that she had a Fitbit, and he requested her login and password in order to access the information stored within her tracking account.

The fitness tracker data showed that the wearer had taken around 1,000 steps between the time she claimed to have gone to bed and the time and phoning the police. This evidence held up in court, revealing that she had been taking the steps as she staged the crime scene.

Retailers are beginning to change the way they do business with consumers

Manhattan Associates, a prominent software developer, predicts that the retail sector will experience a major shift in the coming years. The organization predicts that retailers will become more customer-centric, offering more personalized shopping experiences. The rise of mobile commerce is has had major influence on the retail sector, forcing many merchants to embrace mobile technology in an effort to adequately connect with a new generation of consumers with evolving interests.

Improving the shopping experience is becoming a priority for retailers throughout the world

The organization notes that merchants will have to address five key areas in order to find more success in changing markets. The first, and perhaps most important, area is making sure the shopping experience is personal and convenient. This is where mobile shopping can shine, as shopping platforms that allow consumers to use their smartphones to purchase products can offer them a personalized experience that other platforms do not have.

Store assistants could make or break the shopping experience

Merchants will also have to understand the roles that store assistants play in the shopping experience. Store assistants must have the knowledge and skill to serve consumers effectively, especially as mobile commerce continues to grows. More retailers are making use of mobile shopping platforms and supporting mobile payments at physical locations. As such, store assistants must be well versed in how new payment systems work and how to ensure that consumers have the best shopping experience possible.

Millennials are beginning to hold more power in the retail space

Retailers will also have to consider the growing power of Millennials, whom are becoming the largest demographic in the mobile shopping space. These consumers have a seemingly intrinsic connection to the digital world and mobile technology. If retailers can connect with these consumers, they may find enthusiastic shoppers whom are willing to spend considerable amounts of money on products and services that they are interested in. These consumers are already quite comfortable with the concept of mobile commerce and have shown that they are quite willing to make use of mobile shopping platforms.