Nudges for Privacy and Security: Understanding and Assisting Users' Choices Online

Advancements in information technology often task users with complex and consequential privacy and security decisions. A growing body of research has investigated individuals' choices in the presence of privacy and information security tradeoffs, the decision-making hurdles affecting those choices, and ways to mitigate such hurdles. This article provides a multi-disciplinary assessment of the literature pertaining to privacy and security decision making. It focuses on research on assisting individuals' privacy and security choices with soft paternalistic interventions that nudge users toward more beneficial choices. The article discusses potential benefits of those interventions, highlights their shortcomings, and identifies key ethical, design, and research challenges.National Science Foundation [CNS-1012763, CNS-0627513, CNS-0905562]; Google; CMU CyLab from the Army Research Office [DAAD19-02-1-0389, W911NF-09-1-0273]; IWT SBO SPION Project; Nokia; France Telecom; CMU/Portugal Information and Communication Technologies InstituteThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]