Taboos and desires of the UK public for identity management in the future - Findings from two survey games

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze user experiences and expectations about the future of identification and authentication (I&A). We focus on structural taboos and desires around I&A and try to tap into fundamental concerns that may be relevant across particular technologies or contexts. We collected data by running two gamified surveys in which a representative sample of the UK public (N=1000) were engaged in I&A narratives that were accompanied by a colorful design, visuals and audio effects. We found that people use a traditional set of I&A instruments, i.e. passport, driving license, bank card, pincodes and passwords. Few of them are heavy users of biometrics. People experience little problems with their current means of I&A and do not like the kind of futuristic means of I&A that are presented in popular culture, arts and design, and some R&D departments of big corporations. If people see room for improvements of their future means of I&A, they tend to desire higher ease and transparency of the cards they use. People hope and expect I&A in the future to become even more personalized; they hope to get more control over their online identities but there is widespread doubt this will become possible; they fear and expect commercialization of I&A services, and expect that surveillance will expand (about which they have mixed feelings). We end the paper with recommendations for further research and for designers of I&A systems. © 2013 ACM.