Mediators Allowing Users to Control Information Given When Using Technologies

Abstract

My research aims to develop different mediators allowing users to control the amount of information they provide when using technology. The starting point of my research will be analyzing voice assistants such as smart speakers. A smart speaker is a loudspeaker connected to the internet with an integrated virtual assistant controlled by spoken commands, activated by a wake word. 94.9 million smart speakers, such as Amazon Alexa Echo and Google Home Assistant, are installed in the US. This massive scale of smart speaker usage makes people’s preferences, voices, and daily activities accessible to other companies and open to unwanted exploitation. To combat such an issue, I propose placing a mediator such as a chip with privacy preservation interventions inside devices to protect more of customers’ data. I intend to apply my research in coordination with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to motivate systemic changes in business behavior. The mediator can help NIST determine reasonable criteria to set a benchmark for their NIST Privacy Framework that “helps organizations answer fundamental questions: How are we considering the privacy impacts to individuals as we develop our systems, products, and services.” Products with mechanisms implemented to preserve privacy following the discovered benchmark should receive privacy labels issued by NIST. As a result, when customers purchase products with privacy labels from NIST in the future, they know that such products have approved methods to retain more of their data.