Privacy theory in practice: designing a user interface for managing location privacy on mobile devices

Abstract

Disclosing the current location of a person can seriously affect their privacy, but many apps request location information to provide location-based services. Simultaneously, these apps provide only crude controls for location privacy settings (sharing all or nothing). There is an ongoing discussion about rights of users regarding their location privacy (e.g. in the context of the General Data Protection Regulation–GDPR). GDPR requires data collectors to notify users about data collection and to provide them with opt-out options. To address these requirements, we propose a set of user interface (UI) controls for fine-grained management of location privacy settings based on privacy theory (Westin), privacy by design principles and general UI design principles. The UI notifies users about the state of location data sharing and provides controls for adjusting location sharing preferences. It addresses three key issues: whom to share location with, when to share it, and where to share it. Results of a user study (N=23) indicate that (1) the proposed interface led to a greater sense of control, that (2) it was usable and well received, and that (3) participants were keen on using it in real life. Our findings can inform the development of interfaces to manage location privacy.