Can I Help You Setting Your Privacy? A Survey-based Exploration of Users' Attitudes towards Privacy Suggestions

Even avid users of mobile applications turn a blind eye to privacy settings. Still mobile applications remain the key means by which users share sensitive personal information. It is unclear if users just do not care, if they are missing the appropriate tools or user interfaces, or if they live in the delusion of being in control of their data. We argue that non-user-friendly design presents a key obstacle in making privacy controls work: it hinders users to effectively set up and maintain privacy settings. Our ultimate goal is to support the user by automatically suggesting access control lists based on an analysis of her communication metadata. To guide us in the design of such privacy suggestions, we perform an explorative questionnaire-based study with 42 participants. Our results confirm that users are overtaxed with existing schemes. We identify the expectations and preferences of users, thus facilitating the design of improved solutions.

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