The uncanny valley everywhere? On privacy perception and expectation management

Abstract

In 1970 Mori introduced the notion of the 'uncanny valley' in robotics, expressing the eeriness humans may suddenly feel when confronted with robots with a very human-like appearance. I will use the model of the uncanny valley to speak about privacy relating to social network sites and emerging technologies. Using examples, I will argue that the uncanny valley effect is already manifesting itself in some social network sites. After that, I will project the uncanny valley into the near future in relation to emerging technologies, and argue that awareness of the uncanny valley effect is of great importance to technology designers, since it may be a factor in humans' acceptance of and willingness to use these technologies. Will the uncanny valley be everywhere in the technological world of tomorrow? © 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.