research-article

"When I am on Wi-Fi, I am fearless": privacy concerns & practices in eeryday Wi-Fi use

Authors:

Predrag Klasnja,

Sunny Consolvo,

Benjamin M. Greenstein,

Pauline Powledge,

David WetherallAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '09: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1993 - 2002

https://doi.org/10.1145/1518701.1519004

Published: 04 April 2009 Publication History

Abstract

Increasingly, users access online services such as email, e-commerce, and social networking sites via 802.11-based wireless networks. As they do so, they expose a range of personal information such as their names, email addresses, and ZIP codes to anyone within broadcast range of the network. This paper presents results from an exploratory study that examined how users from the general public understand Wi-Fi, what their concerns are related to Wi-Fi use, and which practices they follow to counter perceived threats. Our results reveal that while users understand the practical details of Wi-Fi use reasonably well, they lack understanding of important privacy risks. In addition, users employ incomplete protective practices which results in a false sense of security and lack of concern while on Wi-Fi. Based on our results, we outline opportunities for technology to help address these problems.

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Cited By

Brom CDrobná AYaghobová AŠt’astný DZábrodská KUrban M(2024)From Servers to Satellites: Understanding Internet Principles among New Computer Science TeachersACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/370915025:1(1-33)Online publication date: 24-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3709150
Herbert FBecker SSchaewitz LHielscher JKowalewski MSasse AAcar YDürmuth M(2023)A World Full of Privacy and Security (Mis)conceptions? Findings of a Representative Survey in 12 CountriesProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581410(1-23)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581410
Sangeen MBhatti NKifayat KAlsadhan AWang H(2023)Blind-trust: Raising awareness of the dangers of using unsecured public Wi-Fi networksComputer Communications10.1016/j.comcom.2023.07.011209(359-367)Online publication date: Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comcom.2023.07.011
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

"When I am on Wi-Fi, I am fearless": privacy concerns & practices in eeryday Wi-Fi use
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Computing / technology policy

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '09: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2009

2426 pages

ISBN:9781605582467

DOI:10.1145/1518701

General Chairs:
Dan R. Olsen
Brigham Young University
,
Richard B. Arthur
Brigham Young University
,
Program Chairs:
Ken Hinckley
Microsoft Research
,
Meredith Ringel Morris
Microsoft Research
,
Scott Hudson
Carnegie Mellon University
,
Saul Greenberg
University of Calgary

Copyright © 2009 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Published: 04 April 2009

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CHI '09: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 4 - 9, 2009

MA, Boston, USA

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CHI '09 Paper Acceptance Rate 277 of 1,130 submissions, 25%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Brom CDrobná AYaghobová AŠt’astný DZábrodská KUrban M(2024)From Servers to Satellites: Understanding Internet Principles among New Computer Science TeachersACM Transactions on Computing Education10.1145/370915025:1(1-33)Online publication date: 24-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3709150
Herbert FBecker SSchaewitz LHielscher JKowalewski MSasse AAcar YDürmuth M(2023)A World Full of Privacy and Security (Mis)conceptions? Findings of a Representative Survey in 12 CountriesProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581410(1-23)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544548.3581410
Sangeen MBhatti NKifayat KAlsadhan AWang H(2023)Blind-trust: Raising awareness of the dangers of using unsecured public Wi-Fi networksComputer Communications10.1016/j.comcom.2023.07.011209(359-367)Online publication date: Sep-2023
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comcom.2023.07.011
Groen EFeth DPolst STolsdorf JWiefling SIacono LSchmitt H(2023)Achieving Usable Security and Privacy Through Human-Centered DesignHuman Factors in Privacy Research10.1007/978-3-031-28643-8_5(83-113)Online publication date: 10-Mar-2023
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28643-8_5
Bélanger FMaier JMaier M(2022)A LONGITUDINAL STUDY ON IMPROVING EMPLOYEE INFORMATION PROTECTIVE KNOWLEDGE AND BEHAVIORSComputers & Security10.1016/j.cose.2022.102641(102641)Online publication date: Feb-2022
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2022.102641
Choi HCarpenter DKo M(2022)Risk Taking Behaviors Using Public Wi-Fi™Information Systems Frontiers10.1007/s10796-021-10119-724:3(965-982)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s10796-021-10119-7
Tolsdorf JDehling FReinhardt DIacono L(2021)Exploring mental models of the right to informational self-determination of office workers in GermanyProceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies10.2478/popets-2021-00352021:3(5-27)Online publication date: 27-Apr-2021
https://doi.org/10.2478/popets-2021-0035
Mehta VBandara APrice BNuseibeh BGooch DKaltenbrunner MMurer MWolf KOakley I(2021)Up Close & Personal: Exploring User-preferred Image Schemas for Intuitive Privacy Awareness and ControlProceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3430524.3440626(1-13)Online publication date: 14-Feb-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3430524.3440626
Rath DKumar A(2021)Information privacy concern at individual, group, organization and societal level - a literature reviewVilakshan - XIMB Journal of Management10.1108/XJM-08-2020-0096ahead-of-print:ahead-of-printOnline publication date: 8-Jan-2021
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Li LChen XLi QTan XChen JWang DJia P(2021)Contextualizing human dynamics: Understanding the semantics of movement trajectories with Wi-Fi dataTravel Behaviour and Society10.1016/j.tbs.2021.07.00525(183-192)Online publication date: Oct-2021
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