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Users’ Privacy Concerns About Wearables

Impact of Form Factor, Sensors and Type of Data Collected

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Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 8976))

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Abstract

Wearables have become popular in several application domains, including healthcare, entertainment and security. Their pervasiveness, small size and autonomy, enlarges the potential of these devices to be employed in different activities and scenarios. Wearable devices collect data ubiquitously and continuously, about the individual user and also her surroundings, which can pose many privacy challenges that neither users nor stakeholders are ready to deal with. Before designing effective solutions for developing privacy-enhanced wearables, we need first to identify and understand what are the potential privacy concerns that users have and how they are perceived. To contribute to that purpose, in this paper we present findings from a qualitative content analysis of online comments regarding privacy concerns of wearable device users. We also discuss how form factors, sensors employed, and the type of data collected impact the users’ perception of privacy. Our results show that users have different levels and types of privacy concerns depending on the type of wearable they use. By better understanding the users’ perspectives about wearable privacy, we aim at helping designers and researchers to develop effective solutions to create privacy-enhanced wearables.

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1314342. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing, Clemson University, Clemson, USA

    Vivian Genaro Motti & Kelly Caine

Authors
  1. Vivian Genaro Motti
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  2. Kelly Caine
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vivian Genaro Motti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany

    Michael Brenner

  2. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Nicolas Christin

  3. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Benjamin Johnson

  4. New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA

    Kurt Rohloff

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© 2015 International Financial Cryptography Association

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Motti, V.G., Caine, K. (2015). Users’ Privacy Concerns About Wearables. In: Brenner, M., Christin, N., Johnson, B., Rohloff, K. (eds) Financial Cryptography and Data Security. FC 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8976. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48051-9_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48051-9_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-48050-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-48051-9

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