Users’ privacy concerns about wearables: Impact of form factor, sensors and type of data collected

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.