A multi-pronged empirical approach to mobile privacy investigation

We describe the design of three empirical studies planned as part of an investigation into privacy when mobile. The studies exemplify complementary investigation strands, whose aim is to uncover the multi-faceted nature of privacy for mobile computing applications

Contravision: Exploring users' reactions to futuristic technology

How can we best explore the range of users' reactions when developing future technologies that maybe controversial, such as personal healthcare systems? Our approach – Contravision – uses futuristic videos, or other narrative forms, that convey either negative or positive aspects of the proposed technology for the same scenarios. We conducted a users study to investigate what range of responses the different versions elicited. Our findings show that the use of two systematically comparable representations of the same technology can elicit a wider spectrum of reactions than a single representation can. We discuss why this is so and the value of obtaining breadth in user feedback for potentially controversial technologies

On the impact of real-time feedback on users\u27 behaviour in mobile location-sharing applications

Effective privacy management requires that mobile systems\u27 users be able to make informed privacy decisions as their experience and knowledge of a system progresses. Prior work has shown that making such privacy decisions is a difficult task for users because systems do not provide support for awareness, visibility and accountability when sharing privacy-sensitive information. This paper reports results of our investigation into the efficacy of real-time feedback as a mechanism for incorporating these features of social translucence in location-sharing applications, in order to help users make better privacy decisions. We explored the role of real-time feedback in the context of Buddy Tracker, a mobile location-sharing application. Our work focuses on ways in which real-time feedback affects people\u27s behaviour in order to identify the main criteria for acceptance of this technology. Based on the data from a three week field trial of Buddy Tracker, a focus group session, and interviews, we found that when using a system that provided real-time feedback, people were more accountable for their actions and reduced the number of unreasonable location requests. We have used the results of our study to propose high-level design criteria for incorporating real-time feedback into information sharing applications in a manner that ensures social acceptance of the technology

I Know What You Did Last Summer: risks of location data leakage in mobile and social computing

Advances in mobile and web technologies have brought unwanted access to often sensitive data, ranging from our personal details, where we work, where we live and even behavioral patterns. The increasing use of social networks and location-aware mobile applications raise a number of concerns, including the issue of ensuring users" privacy. In order to explore those concerns we conducted an exploratory study in re-identifying people based on their movements and publicly available information. We observed anonymous users of a location-based social networking application in their natural environment and demonstrated how to re-identify them based on that data. In addition to discovering location-based private data, we were also able to find quite a number of facts from their private lives. This article reports on the methodology we used, ethical issues related to informed consent and user"s reaction to the fact of being re-identified

On the impact of real-time feedback on users' behaviour in mobile location-sharing applications

Effective privacy management requires that mobile systems' users be able to make informed privacy decisions as their experience and knowledge of a system progresses. Prior work has shown that making such privacy decisions is a difficult task for users because systems do not provide support for awareness, visibility and accountability when sharing privacy-sensitive information. This paper reports results of our investigation into the efficacy of real-time feedback as a mechanism for incorporating these features of social translucence in location-sharing applications, in order to help users make better privacy decisions. We explored the role of real-time feedback in the context of Buddy Tracker, a mobile location-sharing application. Our work focuses on ways in which real-time feedback affects people's behaviour in order to identify the main criteria for acceptance of this technology. Based on the data from a three week field trial of Buddy Tracker, a focus group session, and interviews, we found that when using a system that provided real-time feedback, people were more accountable for their actions and reduced the number of unreasonable location requests. We have used the results of our study to propose high-level design criteria for incorporating real-time feedback into information sharing applications in a manner that ensures social acceptance of the technology

"Privacy-shake", a haptic interface for managing privacy settings in mobile location sharing applications

We describe the “Privacy-Shake”, a novel interface for managing coarse grained privacy settings. We built a prototype that enables users of Buddy Tracker, an example location sharing application, to change their privacy preferences by shaking their phone. Users can enable or disable location sharing and change the level of granularity of disclosed location by shaking and sweeping their phone. In this poster we present and motivate our work on Privacy-Shake and report on a lab-based evaluation of the interface with 16 participants

Predators and Prey: Ubiquitous Tracking, Privacy and the Social Contract

Previous work examining privacy interfaces and user attitudes towards location tracking have relied on irregular manual updates from users, imprecise location information or information obtained via specialized equipment. We present a field study where 12 participants used their own mobile phones with automatic accurate location tracking over a 3-week period. We recorded over 1000 user tracking events, over 300 extended experience sampling entries and more than 15 hours of debriefing interviews. Taking an evolutionary perspective on location tracking, we observe how predator-prey dynamics interact with the social contracts that define our relationships and present a three-tire framework accounting for the complexity of users’ responses to location tracking technology. We also discuss how the limitations of the technology currently available contribute to misperceptions and misinterpretations impacting on an individual’s social interactions and how ubiquitous location tracking encroaches on the individual’s fundamental need to safely withdraw from social interaction

From spaces to places: emerging contexts in mobile privacy

Mobile privacy concerns are central to Ubicomp and yet remain poorly understood. We advocate a diversified approach, enabling the cross-interpretation of data from complementary methods. However, mobility imposes a number of limitations on the methods that can be effectively employed. We discuss how we addressed this problem in an empirical study of mobile social networking. We report on how, by combining a variation of experience sampling and contextual interviews, we have started focusing on a notion of context in relation to privacy, which is subjectively defined by emerging socio-cultural knowledge, functions, relations and rules. With reference to Gieryn’s sociological work, we call this place, as opposed to a notion of context that is objectively defined by physical and factual elements, which we call space. We propose that the former better describes the context for mobile privacy