A realisation of ethical concerns with smartphone personal health monitoring apps

The pervasiveness of smartphones has facilitated a new way in which owners of devices can monitor their health using applications (apps) that are installed on their smartphones. Smartphone personal health monitoring (SPHM) collects and stores health related data of the user either locally or in a third party storing mechanism. They are also capable of giving feedback to the user of the app in response to conditions are provided to the app therefore empowering the user to actively make decisions to adjust their lifestyle. Regardless of the benefits that this new innovative technology offers to its users, there are some ethical concerns to the user of SPHM apps. These ethical concerns are in some way connected to the features of SPHM apps. From a literature survey, this paper attempts to recognize ethical issues with personal health monitoring apps on smartphones, viewed in light of general ethics of ubiquitous computing. The paper argues that there are ethical concerns with the use of SPHM apps regardless of the benefits that the technology offers to users due to SPHM apps’ ubiquity leaving them open to known and emerging ethical concerns. The paper then propose a need further empirical research to validate the claim

Digital curation and the cloud

Digital curation involves a wide range of activities, many of which could benefit from cloud deployment to a greater or lesser extent. These range from infrequent, resource-intensive tasks which benefit from the ability to rapidly provision resources to day-to-day collaborative activities which can be facilitated by networked cloud services. Associated benefits are offset by risks such as loss of data or service level, legal and governance incompatibilities and transfer bottlenecks. There is considerable variability across both risks and benefits according to the service and deployment models being adopted and the context in which activities are performed. Some risks, such as legal liabilities, are mitigated by the use of alternative, e.g., private cloud models, but this is typically at the expense of benefits such as resource elasticity and economies of scale. Infrastructure as a Service model may provide a basis on which more specialised software services may be provided. There is considerable work to be done in helping institutions understand the cloud and its associated costs, risks and benefits, and how these compare to their current working methods, in order that the most beneficial uses of cloud technologies may be identified. Specific proposals, echoing recent work coordinated by EPSRC and JISC are the development of advisory, costing and brokering services to facilitate appropriate cloud deployments, the exploration of opportunities for certifying or accrediting cloud preservation providers, and the targeted publicity of outputs from pilot studies to the full range of stakeholders within the curation lifecycle, including data creators and owners, repositories, institutional IT support professionals and senior manager

Security comparison of ownCloud, Nextcloud, and Seafile in open source cloud storage solutions

Cloud storage has become one of the most efficient and economical ways to store data over the web. Although most organizations have adopted cloud storage, there are numerous privacy and security concerns about cloud storage and collaboration. Furthermore, adopting public cloud storage may be costly for many enterprises. An open-source cloud storage solution for cloud file sharing is a possible alternative in this instance. There is limited information on system architecture, security measures, and overall throughput consequences when selecting open-source cloud storage solutions despite widespread awareness. There are no comprehensive comparisons available to evaluate open-source cloud storage solutions (specifically owncloud, nextcloud, and seafile) and analyze the impact of platform selections. This thesis will present the concept of cloud storage, a comprehensive understanding of three popular open-source features, architecture, security features, vulnerabilities, and other angles in detail. The goal of the study is to conduct a comparison of these cloud solutions so that users may better understand the various open-source cloud storage solutions and make more knowledgeable selections. The author has focused on four attributes: features, architecture, security, and vulnerabilities of three cloud storage solutions ("ownCloud," "Nextcloud," and "Seafile") since most of the critical issues fall into one of these classifications. The findings show that, while the three services take slightly different approaches to confidentiality, integrity, and availability, they all achieve the same purpose. As a result of this research, the user will have a better understanding of the factors and will be able to make a more informed decision on cloud storage options

The adoption intention of travel-related app: a framework integrating perceived characteristics of innovation and software quality

This thesis aims to analyze the views of customers who have great appetite for tourism on the tourism application. According to the perception characteristics of technology acceptance model, innovation diffusion theory and software quality model, the thesis sets up the research model and puts forward the corresponding research hypothesis on the combination of current research results. In the manner of questionnaire design and collection and data processing, data analysis and hypothesis verification will be conducted by the use of structural equation model. The research result implies that application design attributes and application performance features are key to promote the adoption of mobile travel application. In addition, this research broadens our horizons on the accidental impact of application attributes on adoption behavior through adding user gender as a variable to the model, and increases an awesome theoretical basis for future research in this field.Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar as visões de potenciais turistas com grande interesse por aplicações turísticas. De acordo com as características de percepção do modelo de aceitação de tecnologia, teoria da difusão da inovação e modelo de qualidade de software, a tese estabelece o modelo de investigação e propõe hipóteses de investigação correspondentes, sobre a combinação de resultados da pesquisa atual. Uma vez realizado o desenho do questionário e feita a recolha e processamento de dados, a análise de dados e a verificação de hipóteses foram conduzidas pelo uso do modelo de equações estruturais. O resultado da pesquisa implica que os atributos de design do aplicativo e os recursos de desempenho do aplicativo são fundamentais para promover a adoção do aplicativo móvel de viagem. Além disso, esta pesquisa amplia os horizontes sobre o impacto acidental de atributos de aplicação no comportamento de adoção, adicionando o gênero do usuário como uma variável ao modelo, e aumenta uma importante base teórica para pesquisas futuras neste campo

Smart Phone, Dumb Security

Over one-third of Americans use a smartphone daily and recently there has been a substantial increase in the incidents of malicious software on these devices. Smartphones, being just miniature computers, suffer from the kinds of hacker exploits that were prevalent in the early days of the proliferation of the PC. However, the differences in the ecosystem of these phones with Android being open, Apple which is closed but can be opened and BlackBerry which is completely closed and encrypted, has a profound effect on the security of these devices

A Study to Assess Users’ Preferences for Intelligent Personal Assistance and Improve their Mass Adoption

Despite the dissemination and wide availability of Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPA), such systems have not reached the popularity expected. One reason for this is the users\u27 lack of trust in IPA and their providers. Another reason is the IPA\u27s limited performance and skill set, which in turn is due to the intentional segregation of IPAs in proprietary ecosystems. Enabling IPAs to communicate and exchange data with each other could help IPAs improve performance and thus their acceptance among users. Further, certifications and suitable marketing strategies can also contribute towards their mass adop-tion, by fostering user\u27s trust in IPA and their providers. To better understand the incentives necessary to instigate mass adoption of interoperable IPAs, this paper presents a survey which captures the po-tential users\u27 attitude towards interoperable IPAs and their attitude towards different marketing strate-gies which could increase users’ trust in IPAs. The ultimate purpose of this ongoing research is to develop design recommendations and an efficient incentive system that can foster the mass adoption of IPAs

ANALYSIS OF EFFECTS OF APP PERMISSION CONCERNS ON INTENTIONS TO DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION: A CASE STUDY OF MONEY TRANSFER SERVICE APP

Data growth increased alongside the rise of mobile app users in financial services. In Indonesia, the number of financial services application downloads reached 24 million by the end of 2022, with a 28.72 percent increase in transactions. However, this growth also brings issues regarding the potential misuse of personal information, although according to the Personal Data Protection Act (UU PDP) in Indonesia, personal data is protected and kept confidential when accessed by another party.  This prompts users to be more cautious in disclosing personal information. On the other hand, users are faced with risks to personal data that can be accessed by service providers, one of which is through app permissions. This research focuses on the influence of App Permission Concerns on users' intentions to disclose their personal information, with a case study of a money transfer services app in Indonesia, namely Flip, that received numerous negative reviews about users' data privacy concerns, especially when verifying using an identity card. The study uses a quantitative approach with PLS-SEM for data analysis. Convenience sampling was used, and data were collected via a questionnaire distributed through Google Forms on social media from May 9 to May 21, 2023 and a total of 224 respondents were obtained. The results of this study indicate that App Permission Concerns have a significant influence on Privacy Fatigue, Privacy Awareness, Privacy Concern and Trust. Trust significantly influences Intention to Disclose. This research is expected to contribute to future studies on app permissions and mobile app feature development

The systemic dimension of success (or failure?) in the use of data and AI during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-country comparison on contact tracing apps

During the COVID-19 pandemic, public attention turned to contact tracing apps as a possible solution to the spread of the virus. Many countries have moved in this direction, adopting contact tracing apps, while respecting personal data protection and, for EU countries, adhering to a number of fundamental principles: voluntariness, interoperability, regulatory coverage, purpose specification, minimisation, transparency, protection, security, and timeliness. In spite of timely public policy efforts, tracking apps have not been a success in many countries, and today, when their use could be of great importance, it seems appropriate to open a reflection on the success and unsuccessfulness of a public policy that has resolutely supported the use of digital technologies for public utility purposes. This working paper proposes a comparative analysis of nine OECD countries: Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, Spain. It outlines the specific factors in each country's public policy that made the use of tracking apps possible, in terms of policy design with respect to: objectives, instruments, public procurement selection criteria, resources and the context in which the policy was implemented. The working paper concludes with three lessons learned from the comparative analysis: the privacy paradox, the choice of a public interest technology, and the systemic interweaving that the implementation of a public policy must take into account to enhance the effectiveness of a public interest action

Critical Success Factors of Location-Based Services

Location-based services evolved with the advancement in mobile technology and wireless technology. Researchers have studied location-based services in terms of privacy, trust, and user acceptance. Statistics suggest the percentage of location-based services users is still relatively low. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to gain a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the critical success factors of location-based services. The electronic brainstorming approach was used to gather the opinions of an expert group of practitioners, researchers, and users on the critical success factors of location-based services. Through grouping similar factors together based on past literature, 15 categories of critical success factors were developed. These 15 categories were ranked and rated according to importance. The results showed that speed, real-time or up-to-date information, cost, usefulness or benefits, and simple or ease of use are the five most important critical success factors. The results of this research highlight potential areas of research, and research and development. The results of this study also provide guidelines for practitioners to create a competitive location-based services strategy to increase consumer adoption. Advisor: Keng L. Sia

Wire(less) Tapping: Protecting Arkansans\u27 Fourth Amendment Right in the Era of the Cloud

Every day we surround ourselves with dozens of devices that monitor our every move, every request, all connecting with one another and sending massive amounts of data back to the device manufacturers. The idea of the prosecution placing the little black cylinder of your Amazon Alexa on the witness stand and asking Alexa to testify against you seems like something pulled from an Orwellian nightmare. But, in reality, it is already occurring