Evaluation of Semantic Web Ontologies for Privacy Modelling in Smart Home Environments

The proliferation of smart devices gives rise to a new world of Ambient Intelligence, a world of technologies embedded in the surrounding environments, such as the home environment. As the success of such systems often depends on the collection on personal data, privacy concerns threaten to hinder this new world from reaching its full potential. At the same time, accurately modelling the different types of contextual information proves to be of paramount importance in paving the way towards the maturity of Ambient Intelligence systems, with Semantic Web ontologies becoming a popular solution. This paper aims to explore the application of Semantic Web ontologies in modelling privacy-related information in the context of smart home environments. To this purpose, we have conducted a practical evaluation of three ontologies, in an attempt to determine their suitability within the stated domain. The paper concludes that the representation of privacy features within smart home environments is attainable through the use of ontologies; however, current models do not achieve sufficient coverage of the domain. Lastly, the paper provides insights into practical ways of enhancing future ontologies in order to reach the required capabilities

Evaluation of Semantic Web Ontologies for Privacy Modelling in Smart Home Environments

Abstract. The proliferation of smart devices gives rise to a new world of Ambient Intelligence, a world of technologies embedded in the surrounding environments, such as the home environment. As the success of such systems often depends on the collection on personal data, privacy concerns threaten to hinder this new world from reaching its full potential. At the same time, accurately modelling the different types of contextual information proves to be of paramount importance in paving the way towards the maturity of Ambient Intelligence systems, with Semantic Web ontologies becoming a popular solution. This paper aims to explore the application of Semantic Web ontologies in modelling privacy-related information in the context of smart home environments. To this purpose, we have conducted a practical evaluation of three ontologies, in an attempt to determine their suitability within the stated domain. The paper concludes that the representation of privacy features within smart home environments is attainable through the use of ontologies; however, current models do not achieve sufficient coverage of the domain. Lastly, the paper provides insights into practical ways of enhancing future ontologies in order to reach the required capabilities