In Search of "a Way to Level the Playing Field'': Helping Incidental Users Navigate Privacy Risks in Smart Environments

Smart devices---including speakers, cameras, TVs, and sensors---are increasingly used to enhance comfort, efficiency, security, and entertainment in and outside the home. These devices collect significant audio, video, and environmental data, and that data may be shared with device owners, manufacturers, and/or third-parties. Social computing researchers have devoted significant attention to the privacy risks posed by these devices, although the focus has largely been on primary users who have access and control of devices and data. More recently, researchers have begun examining the privacy risks to incidental users---those who do not own or manage devices but still have their data collected due to their presence in a smart environment. In this paper, we present findings from 25 interviews with US-based adults who have encountered and/or used smart devices as incidental users in rental properties, as part of their work, at friends’ and family’s houses, and in shared living environments. We explore their reactions to these devices across different contexts, as well as their expectations for how devices should be disclosed and managed by primary users. We found a prevailing sense of resignation across our participants, as well behavioral and environmental modifications in response to smart devices. At the same time, participants were disinterested in gaining access and control to other people’s devices, and they were hesitant or uncomfortable with the idea of initiating communication with device owners regarding their concern. Many wanted clearer and more prominent disclosures about device and data management that shifted responsibility from the incidental user to the device owner. Based on our findings, we argue for researchers to focus more closely on sociotechnical approaches to help incidental users navigate privacy risks in smart environments. Such approaches must account for interpersonal factors like trust, power dynamics, and social norms in addition to the many technical solutions that have been introduced in recent years.