Multi-Party Computation as a Privacy-Enhancing Technology: Implications for Data Sharing by Businesses and Consumers

Data sharing through data marketplaces, which rely on a Trusted Third Party (TTP), can benefit businesses and society. However, many companies and consumers are increasingly reluctant to share data due to mounting concerns over data control and privacy. Emerging privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) like Multi-Party Computation (MPC), which enables joint computation to generate insights while keeping the input data private, could address data sharing barriers due to its differences with the traditional data sharing approach relying on a TTP. Thus, MPC could challenge the current understanding of why and how businesses and consumers share data. Nevertheless, whether businesses and consumers would be more willing to share data with MPC in place is unclear, as less attention is given to the socio-technical implications of MPC on data sharing decisions in data marketplaces and its antecedents. This research aimed to theorize the socio-technical implications of MPC on sharing through data marketplaces, by investigating how MPC potentially impacts data sharing antecedents by businesses and individuals. We do so through a mixed-method research design focusing on the automotive industry. Based on interviews with 15 MPC experts, which were structured using a Unified Business Model framework, we explored value propositions enabled by MPC use in data marketplaces. These value propositions allow MPC to potentially impact control, privacy, trust, and risks as antecedents of data sharing decisions in data marketplaces. Subsequently, we interviewed 23 automotive industry experts to investigate the potential impact of MPC use in data marketplaces on control, trust, and risks as antecedents of business data sharing. We then conducted an experiment via an online crowdsourcing platform with 1457 participants to investigate the potential impact of MPC use in data marketplaces on control, privacy, trust, and risks as antecedents of consumer data sharing. In this way, we contribute to the socio-technical understanding of MPC beyond technical perspectives. At the same time, we also demonstrate the relevance of MPC to practitioners by pointing out key aspects that should be considered while exploring the possibility of implementing MPC. Furthermore, this research provides a foundation for future studies on understanding the socio-technical implications of MPC on data sharing decisions.Information and Communication Technolog

Platformization of data sharing: Multi-party computation (MPC) as control mechanism and its effect on firms' participation in data sharing via data marketplaces

Data sharing facilitated by data marketplaces enable companies to generate meaningful insights and discover new opportunities. However, enterprises are reluctant to share data over platforms due to lack of trust, fear of losing control over data and concerns regarding privacy violations. Multi-party computation (MPC) is a cryptographic technique that enables joint data analyses by multiple parties while retaining data secrecy. Despite the potential of MPC, its meaning in data marketplaces setting and how MPC change firms' behavior towards data sharing is not yet researched. This research aims to explain why and how MPC could enable platform control and affect firms' participation in data sharing via data marketplaces. To do so, we will employ a mixed-method research design by combining semi-structured interviews with actors in the mobility domain and quantitative experiments using a mockup of MPC-enabled data marketplaces. Our initial findings revealed various barriers and incentives for firms in sharing their data. We expect our research to become a foundation for future research in the emerging phenomenon of platformization of data sharing via data marketplaces and the key role of MPC in enabling the data economy.Information and Communication Technolog

Can ICT Contribute to Achieve Independent Living?: Exploring Capabilities of the Health and Wellbeing Platform

As the world population is getting older, healthcare expenditure in many countries are increased due to the fact that more people become vulnerable to various health problems. Because of this, elderly people are encouraged to live independently in their own home as long as possible. Promoting independence to elderly people will not be possible without support from society, including voluntary caretakers who took care of elderly people. Hence, it is believed that the health and wellbeing platform as an example of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) could be beneficial to achieving independent living. Nevertheless, the potential impact of such a platform is relatively unknown since this type of platform is still lacking in the market. In addition, availability of such a platform does not guarantee that elderly people will gain any value from it. Therefore, this research aimed to apply the concept of the capability approach to examine why and how ICT, in particular the health and wellbeing platform, can contribute to achieve independent living of elderly people. To do so, we conducted a case study on a health and wellbeing platform in the Netherlands through secondary data analysis and interviews with potential end-users. Our findings showed that such a platform could contribute in achieveing independent living by enabling certain capabilities (find products & services, find activities, manage daily activities, stay connected with others, monitor conditions, arrange help for others) for either elderly people or voluntary caretakers. Enablements of these capabilities are influenced by variety of conversion factors, namely individual characteristics (age, health condition, technological knowledge), individual perception (perceived ease of use, expected benefits, need for technology, satisfaction level), and social contexts (recommendation from closest people & healthcare stakeholders). Our findings provide insights on how this platform could become an intervention tool to support government policies in encouraging elderly people to live independently at home. Moreover, our study also adds another perspective on how to operationalize the capability approach in the comprehensive view of elderly, ICT, and healthcare.Technology, Policy and ManagementEngineering, Systems and ServicesEngineering and Policy Analysi

Rethinking consumers' data sharing decisions with the emergence of multi-party computation: An experimental design for evaluation

Consumers are increasingly reluctant to share their personal data with businesses due to mounting concerns over privacy and control. Emerging privacy-enhancing technologies like multi-party computation (MPC), which allows generating insights while consumers retain data control, are challenging the current understanding of why consumers share their data. In this research-in-progress paper, we develop and evaluate an instrument and experimental design to investigate the impact of MPC on consumers’ willingness to share data and its antecedents. Preliminary analysis from a pre-study (N=300) indicates a good fit for our model. Also, MPC enhances consumers’ control and trust while reducing privacy concerns and risk, ultimately increasing data sharing willingness. The findings suggest that privacy-enhancing technologies significantly affect both the willingness to share data itself and its typical antecedents. The next step will conduct a large-scale online experiment using the developed instruments to evaluate further the impact of MPC on consumers’ willingness to share data.Information and Communication Technolog

Business model implications of privacy-preserving technologies in data marketplaces: The case of multi-party computation

Privacy-preserving technologies could allow data marketplaces to deliver technical assurances to companies on data privacy and control. However, how such technologies change the business model of data marketplaces is not fully understood. This paper aims to bridge this gap by focusing on multi-party computation (MPC) as a cryptographic technology that is currently being hyped. Based on interviews with privacy and security experts, we find that MPC enables data marketplaces to employ a “privacy-as-a-service” business model, which goes beyond privacy-preserving data exchange. Depending on the architecture, MPC could transform data marketplaces into data brokers or data aggregators. More complex architectures might lead to more robust security guarantees and lower trust requirements towards data marketplace operators. Furthermore, MPC enables new offerings of privacy-preserving analytics and services as new revenue sources. Our findings contribute to developing business models of privacy-preserving data marketplaces to unlock the potential of data sharing in a digitized economy.Information and Communication Technolog

It is not (only) about privacy: How multi-party computation redefines control, trust, and risk in data sharing

Firms are often reluctant to share data because of mistrust, concerns over control, and other risks. Multi-party computation (MPC) is a new technique to compute meaningful insights without having to transfer data. This paper investigates if MPC affects known antecedents for data sharing decisions: control, trust, and risks. Through 23 qualitative interviews in the automotive industry, we find that MPC (1) enables new ways of technology-based control, (2) reduces the need for inter-organizational trust, and (3) prevents losing competitive advantage due to data leakage. However, MPC also creates the need to trust technology and introduces new risks of data misuse. These impacts arise if firms perceive benefits from sharing data, have high organizational readiness, and perceive data as non-sensitive. Our findings show that known antecedents of data sharing should be specified differently with MPC in place. Furthermore, we suggest reframing MPC as a data collaboration technology beyond enhancing privacy.Information and Communication Technolog

Digital healthcare technology adoption by elderly people: A capability approach model

Digital technologies, such as online healthcare portals, enable elderly people to live independently at home for a longer period of time. Independent living, in this context, refers to the freedom elderly people have to live their lives in ways that they find important. Borrowing from the capability approach (CA) framework from Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen, the core argument of this paper is that elderly people make decisions on whether to use digital healthcare technologies by considering how these technologies enhance their capabilities to live their lives in ways that are valuable to them. This paper develops a theoretical model of adoption of digital healthcare technologies that support independent living applying the CA framework. We follow a mixed-methods approach with a sequence of qualitative, quantitative, and qualitative methods. We find support for our theoretical model, specifically that the intention to use online healthcare portals depends on whether elderly people expect to enhance their capabilities for living independently by using them. Our study contributes to the information systems literature on adoption of digital healthcare technologies as it is the first that applies the capability approach. For adoption studies on digital technologies in healthcare and beyond, our study poses two major theoretical implications: (1) when considering how outcome expectations affect adoption, scholars should consider how digital technologies allow people to live their lives in ways that are valuable to them, rather than considering how technologies help to execute predefined tasks, jobs, or activities; (2) the availability of digital technologies should be considered as a mediator between outcome expectations and intention to use technologies.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Information and Communication Technolog

The Anatomy of Circular Economy Monitoring through the Lens of Border Crossing and Levels of Control

In this paper, we propose a framework for circular economy monitoring by looking at the issue of border crossing and levels of control.Research Support & InnovationInnovation AffairsInformation and Communication Technolog

Toward sovereign data exchange through a meta-platform for data marketplaces: A preliminary evaluation of the perceived efficacy of control mechanisms

The landscape of platform ecosystems is becoming increasingly complex, with new types of platforms emerging that glue together otherwise fragmented ecosystems. One recent case is metaplatforms that can contribute to the European Data Economy by interconnecting data marketplaces; however, meta-platforms may intensify data sovereignty concerns: the inability of data providers to own and control the exchanged data. While smart contracts and certification can generally enhance data sovereignty, it is unknown whether data providers perceive these control mechanisms as valuable in the complex meta-platform setting. This study aims to evaluate the perceived efficacy of the control mechanisms to ensure data sovereignty in meta-platforms. The findings from a survey study (n=93) indicate that respondents perceive high data sovereignty. One potential explanation is that smart contracts can potentially enable providers to maintain ownership and control over their exchanged data; meanwhile, certification may signal metaplatforms’ responsibility to deliver secure data exchange infrastructure and assist providers in adhering to relevant regulations. This study contributes to advancing design knowledge for meta-platforms, showcasing that meta-platforms can be designed in a way to resolve fragmentation without neglecting data sovereignty principles.Information and Communication Technolog

The Openness of Data Platforms: A Research Agenda

Data platforms are the keystone of the data economy. When opened up, data platforms allow data owners, data consumers and third parties to interact. Yet, openness may also harm business and societal interests. Literature on platform openness does not cover data platforms, and data economy scholars rarely study platform openness. Therefore, this paper develops a research agenda on the openness of data platforms. We explore how data platforms differ from conventional digital platforms (e.g., software platforms). From those differentiating characteristics, we identify areas for future work: (1) The specific characteristics of data require reconceptualizing the object of platform openness; (2) New ways in which data platforms can be opened should be conceptualized; (3) As data platforms are tailored to specific industries, platform-to-platform openness should be a novel unit of analysis; (4) Because opening up data platforms create novel risks, new reasons to (not) open up data platforms should be studied.Information and Communication Technolog