Browsing by Author "Wilkinson, Daricia"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Cross-Cultural Perspectives on eHealth Privacy in Africa
    (Thriving Communities, 2018) Namara, Moses; Wilkinson, Daricia; Byron M., Lowens; Knijnenburg, Bart P.; Orji, Rita; Sekou, Remy L.
    The African continent is making considerable strides to develop and implement technology-driven health innovations. Policymakers are increasingly acknowledging the rising concerns for online personal privacy and data protection as advances in eHealth results in increased levels of data collection and surveillance. In this paper, we propose a research agenda to investigate the effect of cultural, constitutional, and societal factors on privacy concerns and preferences among the different African countries in the context of healthcare technologies. In addition to helping us understand policy and design implications for members of this region, this research will broaden our understanding of cultural factors influencing privacy worldwide.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Emotional and Practical Considerations Towards the Adoption and Abandonment of VPNs as a Privacy-Enhancing Technology
    (Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, 2020) Namara, Moses; Wilkinson, Daricia; Caine, Kelly; Knijnenburg, Bart P.
    Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) can help people protect their privacy. Despite this, VPNs are not widely used among the public. In this survey study about the adoption and usage of VPNs, we investigate people’s motivation to use VPNs and the barriers they encounter in adopting them. Using data from 90 technologically savvy participants, we find that while nearly all (98%; 88) of the participants have knowledge about what VPNs are, less than half (42%; 37) have ever used VPNs primarily as a privacy-enhancing technology. Of these, 18% (7) abandoned using VPNs while 81% (30) continue to use them to protect their privacy online. In a qualitative analysis of survey responses, we find that people who adopt and continue to use VPNs for privacy purposes are primarily motivated by emotional considerations, including the strong desire to protect their privacy online, wide fear of surveillance and data tracking not only from Internet service providers (ISPs) but also governments and Internet corporations such as Facebook and Google. In contrast, people who are mainly motivated by practical considerations are more likely to abandon VPNs, especially once their practical need no longer exists. These people cite their access to alternative technologies and the effort required to use a VPN as reasons for abandonment. We discuss implications of these findings and provide suggestions on how to maximize adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies such as VPNs, focusing on how to align them with people’s interests and privacy risk evaluation.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Privacy at a Glance: The User-Centric Design of Glanceable Data Exposure Visualizations
    (Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies, 2020) Wilkinson, Daricia; Bahirat, Paritosh; Namara, Moses; Lyu, Jing; Alsubhi, Arwa; Qiu, Jessica; Wisniewski, Pamela; Knijnenburg, Bart P.
    Smartphone users are often unaware of mobile applications’ (“apps”) third-party data collection and sharing practices, which put them at higher risk of privacy breaches. One way to raise awareness of these practices is by providing unobtrusive but pervasive visualizations that can be presented in a glanceable manner. In this paper, we applied Wogalter et al.’s Communication-Human Information Processing model (C-HIP) to design and prototype eight different visualizations that depict smartphone apps’ data sharing activities. We varied the granularity and type (i.e., datacentric or app-centric) of information shown to users and used the screensaver/lock screen as a design probe. Through interview-based design probes with Android users (n=15), we investigated the aspects of the data exposure visualizations that influenced users’ comprehension and privacy awareness. Our results shed light on how users’ perceptions of privacy boundaries influence their preference regarding the information structure of these visualizations, and the tensions that exist in these visualizations between glanceability and granularity.We discuss how a pervasive, soft paternalistic approach to privacy-related visualization may raise awareness by enhancing the transparency of information flow, thereby, unobtrusively increasing users’ understanding of data sharing practices of mobile apps. We also discuss implications for privacy research and glanceable security.