AI and privacy concerns: a smart meter case study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jillian Carmody ◽  
Samir Shringarpure ◽  
Gerhard Van de Venter

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate privacy concerns arising from the rapidly increasing advancements and use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the challenges of existing privacy regimes to ensure the on-going protection of an individual’s sensitive private information. The authors illustrate this through a case study of energy smart meters and suggest a novel combination of four solutions to strengthen privacy protection. Design/methodology/approach The authors illustrate how, through smart meter obtained energy data, home energy providers can use AI to reveal private consumer information such as households’ electrical appliances, their time and frequency of usage, including number and model of appliance. The authors show how this data can further be combined with other data to infer sensitive personal information such as lifestyle and household income due to advances in AI technologies. Findings The authors highlight data protection and privacy concerns which are not immediately obvious to consumers due to the capabilities of advanced AI technology and its ability to extract sensitive personal information when applied to large overlapping granular data sets. Social implications The authors question the adequacy of existing privacy legislation to protect sensitive inferred consumer data from AI-driven technology. To address this, the authors suggest alternative solutions. Originality/value The original value of this paper is that it illustrates new privacy issues brought about by advances in AI, failings in current privacy legislation and implementation and opens the dialog between stakeholders to protect vulnerable consumers.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Wirth ◽  
Christian Maier ◽  
Sven Laumer ◽  
Tim Weitzel

Purpose“Smart devices think you're “too lazy” to opt out of privacy defaults” was the headline of a recent news report indicating that individuals might be too lazy to stop disclosing their private information and therefore to protect their information privacy. In current privacy research, privacy concerns and self-disclosure are central constructs regarding protecting privacy. One might assume that being concerned about protecting privacy would lead individuals to disclose less personal information. However, past research has shown that individuals continue to disclose personal information despite high privacy concerns, which is commonly referred to as the privacy paradox. This study introduces laziness as a personality trait in the privacy context, asking to what degree individual laziness influences privacy issues.Design/methodology/approachAfter conceptualizing, defining and operationalizing laziness, the authors analyzed information collected in a longitudinal empirical study and evaluated the results through structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings show that the privacy paradox holds true, yet the level of laziness influences it. In particular, the privacy paradox applies to very lazy individuals but not to less lazy individuals.Research limitations/implicationsWith these results one can better explain the privacy paradox and self-disclosure behavior.Practical implicationsThe state might want to introduce laws that not only bring organizations to handle information in a private manner but also make it as easy as possible for individuals to protect their privacy.Originality/valueBased on a literature review, a clear research gap has been identified, filled by this research study.


Author(s):  
Eko Wahyu Tyas Darmaningrat ◽  
Hanim Maria Astuti ◽  
Fadhila Alfi

Background: Teenagers in Indonesia have an open nature and satisfy their desire to exist by uploading photos or videos and writing posts on Instagram. The habit of uploading photos, videos, or writings containing their personal information can be dangerous and potentially cause user privacy problems. Several criminal cases caused by information misuse have occurred in Indonesia.Objective: This paper investigates information privacy concerns among Instagram users in Indonesia, more specifically amongst college students, the largest user group of Instagram in Indonesia.Methods: This study referred to the Internet Users' Information Privacy Concerns (IUIPC) method by collecting data through the distribution of online questionnaires and analyzed the data by using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM).Results: The research finding showed that even though students are mindful of the potential danger of information misuse in Instagram, it does not affect their intention to use Instagram. Other factors that influence Indonesian college students' trust are Instagram's reputation, the number of users who use Instagram, the ease of using Instagram, the skills and knowledge of Indonesian students about Instagram, and the privacy settings that Instagram has.Conclusion: The awareness and concern of Indonesian college students for information privacy will significantly influence the increased risk awareness of information privacy. However, the increase in risk awareness does not directly affect Indonesian college students' behavior to post their private information on Instagram.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3-2) ◽  
pp. 32-36
Author(s):  
Sh. Nurul Hidayah Wan Julihi ◽  
Ili Najaa Aimi Mohd Nordin ◽  
Muhammad Rusydi Muhammad Razif ◽  
Amar Faiz Zainal Abidin

Manual home energy meter reading and billing had caused inconvenience to the utility companies due to lack of manpower to read the energy meter at each household especially in the remote area, explains the increasing number of smart meter reader in the current market. Most of the smart meters in the market do not offer safety of privacy of consumers’ personal information since the data of electricity usage is being transferred digitally to the utility companies for more accurate bills calculation. Plus, the smart meter system is also a bit pricey to be installed in the rural area. Therefore, a private system that able to read energy consumption from a DC load and calculate its bill according to the tariff is proposed. Value of current is being obtained by using ACS712 current sensor. Hall circuit in the current sensor will converts magnetic field into a proportional voltage. The proposed system allows energy meter monitoring from an Android-based smartphone by displaying the real-time energy consumption and bill on Blynk application. An interface of Blynk is developed and connected to WiFi module, ESP8266 for visualizing the energy consumption of the DC load. In conclusion, the Energy Meter transmitter part able to read, calculate and transmit value of energy consumption and current bills to the Blynk application and Blynk application able to receive and show all the data transmitted at the present time. This system will be further improved for long-distance monitoring of electrical appliances used at home.


The widespread of Internet usage has resulted in a greater number and variety of applications involving different types of private information. In order to diminish privacy concerns and strengthen user trust, security improvements in terms of authentication are necessary. The solutions need to be convenient, entailing ease of use and higher mobility. The suggested approach is to make use of the already popular mobile phone and to involve the mobile network, benefiting from Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card’s tamper resistance to become trusted entities guarding personal information and identifying users. Mobile phone’s SIM card is convenient for safely storing security parameters essential for secured communication. It becomes secure entity compulsory for getting access to privacy sensitive Internet applications, like those involving money transfers. Utilizing the NFC interface passes the personal user keys only when needed, giving additional strength to the traditional public key cryptography approach in terms of security and portability.


Author(s):  
Scott Flinn ◽  
Scott Buffett

This chapter discusses privacy from the perspective of the consumer of e-services. It proposes a technique for risk management assessment designed to help consumers evaluate a situation to identify and understand potential privacy concerns. The technique centers around a series of questions based on common principles of privacy protection. The chapter discusses how a consumer can understand exposure risks and how information can be controlled and monitored to mitigate the risks. It also proposes a method for assessing the consumer’s value of personal information, and a mechanism for automated negotiation is presented to facilitate fair, private information exchange. The authors believe that these or similar techniques are essential to give consumers of e-services meaningful control over the personal information they release. This forward-looking chapter provides a foundation for developing methods to empower users with control over their private information.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Tang ◽  
Umair Akram ◽  
Wenjing Shi

PurposeMobile Applications (App) privacy has become a prominent social problem. Compared with privacy concerns, this study examines a relatively novel concept of privacy fatigue and explores its effect on the users’ intention to disclose their personal information via mobile Apps. In addition, the personality traits are proposed as antecedents that will induce the personal perception of privacy fatigue and privacy concerns differently.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 426 respondents. Structure equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings describe that App users’ intention toward personal information disclosure is determined by privacy fatigue and privacy concerns, but the former has a greater impact. With minor exceptions, the two factors are also influenced by different personality traits. Specifically, neuroticism has positive effects on privacy fatigue, but agreeableness and extraversion have presented the opposite results on the two variables.Practical implicationsThis research is very scarce to examine the joint effects of privacy fatigue, privacy concerns and personality traits on App users’ disclosing intention. In doing so, these results will be of benefit to App providers and platform managers and can be the basis for a variety of follow-up studies.Originality/valueWhile previous research just focuses on privacy concerns, this study explores the critical roles of privacy fatigue and opens up a new avenue of emotion-attitude analysis that can further increase the specificity and richness of users’ privacy research. Additionally, implications for personality traits as antecedents in the impact of App users’ privacy emotions and attitudes are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 358-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Haggerty ◽  
Sheryllynne Haggerty ◽  
Mark Taylor

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel approach that automates the visualisation of both quantitative data (the network) and qualitative data (the content) within emails to aid the triage of evidence during a forensics investigation. Email remains a key source of evidence during a digital investigation, and a forensics examiner may be required to triage and analyse large email data sets for evidence. Current practice utilises tools and techniques that require a manual trawl through such data, which is a time-consuming process. Design/methodology/approach – This paper applies the methodology to the Enron email corpus, and in particular one key suspect, to demonstrate the applicability of the approach. Resulting visualisations of network narratives are discussed to show how network narratives may be used to triage large evidence data sets. Findings – Using the network narrative approach enables a forensics examiner to quickly identify relevant evidence within large email data sets. Within the case study presented in this paper, the results identify key witnesses, other actors of interest to the investigation and potential sources of further evidence. Practical implications – The implications are for digital forensics examiners or for security investigations that involve email data. The approach posited in this paper demonstrates the triage and visualisation of email network narratives to aid an investigation and identify potential sources of electronic evidence. Originality/value – There are a number of network visualisation applications in use. However, none of these enable the combined visualisation of quantitative and qualitative data to provide a view of what the actors are discussing and how this shapes the network in email data sets.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (9) ◽  
pp. 1968-1991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Morosan ◽  
Agnes DeFranco

Purpose The unprecedented development of hotel-branded mobile applications (apps) has been instrumental in facilitating the rich guest–hotel interactions, thus contributing to a high personalization of services. For true personalization, guests need to provide personal information via apps. Yet, no study to date has addressed how guests develop intentions to use such apps given the current personalization and privacy challenges. Therefore, this study aims to investigate hotel guests’ intentions to use hotel apps to access personalized services. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from personalization-privacy theory, this study conceptualized perceived personalization and privacy concerns as distinct constructs while recognizing two different privacy concerns constructs: general and app-specific privacy concerns. To build a comprehensive structural model that is appropriate for explicating intentions to use hotel apps, this study incorporates consumer psychology and information systems theoretical streams that provide constructs that unequivocally capture the unique set of consumer–app interactions in highly experiential settings such as hotels (e.g. innovativeness and involvement). Using a nation-wide sample of hotel guests from the USA, the model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equations modeling. Findings The predictors explained 79 per cent of the variability in the intentions to use hotel apps to personalize hotel services. The strongest predictor of intentions was involvement, followed by app-related privacy concerns and perceived personalization. Research limitations/implications First, this study’s extended theoretical framework was well supported, as it captures relevant elements of the mobile commerce ecosystem (e.g. personalization and privacy), thus extending the classic paradigmatic approach to information systems adoption beyond system beliefs. Second, this study clarifies the distinct roles of personalization and privacy in the context of hotel apps, which has not been examined in the context of m-commerce in hospitality. Third, the study clarifies the role of involvement as the most critical factor that can influence guests’ intentions to use hotel apps when personalization options and privacy concerns exist. Practical implications This study offers hotel decision-makers a mapping of the factors, leading to use of hotel apps for purchasing personalized hotel services. Originality/value This study provides a first theoretical perspective on the hotel app utilization behaviors that have not been studied so far, but carry a strong strategic and financial significance for the hotel industry (direct distribution, brand consolidation and extensive contact with guests).


Author(s):  
Haiyan Jia ◽  
Heng Xu

With the rise of social networking sites (SNSs), individuals not only disclose personal information but also share private information concerning others online. While shared information is co-constructed by self and others, personal and collective privacy boundaries become blurred. Thus there is an increasing concern over information privacy beyond the individual perspective. However, limited research has empirically examined if individuals are concerned about privacy loss not only of their own but their social ties’; nor is there an established instrument for measuring the collective aspect of individuals’ privacy concerns. In order to address this gap in existing literature, we propose a conceptual framework of individuals’ collective privacy concerns in the context of SNSs. Drawing on the Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory (Petronio, 2002), we suggest three dimensions of collective privacy concerns, namely, collective information access, control and diffusion. This is followed by the development and empirical validation of a preliminary scale of SNS collective privacy concerns (SNSCPC). Structural model analyses confirm the three-dimensional conceptualization of SNSCPC and reveal antecedents of SNS users’ concerns over violations of the collective privacy boundaries. This paper serves as a starting point for theorizing privacy as a collective notion and for understanding online information disclosure as a result of social interaction and group influence.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 923-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ching-Hsuan Yeh ◽  
Yi-Shun Wang ◽  
Shin-Jeng Lin ◽  
Timmy H. Tseng ◽  
Hsin-Hui Lin ◽  
...  

Purpose Considering that users’ information privacy concerns may affect the development of e-commerce, the purpose of this paper is to explore what drives internet users’ willingness to provide personal information; further, the paper examines how extrinsic rewards moderate the relationship between users’ information privacy concerns and willingness to provide personal information. Design/methodology/approach Data collected from 345 valid internet users in the context of electronic commerce were analyzed using the partial least squares approach. Findings The result showed that agreeableness, risk-taking propensity and experience of privacy invasion were three main antecedents of information privacy concerns among the seven individual factors. Additionally, information privacy concerns did not significantly affect users’ willingness to provide personal information in the privacy calculation mechanism; however, extrinsic rewards directly affected users’ disclosure intention. The authors found that extrinsic rewards had not moderated the relationship between users’ information privacy concerns and their willingness to provide personal information. Originality/value This study is an exploratory effort to develop and validate a model for explaining why internet users were willing to provide personal information. The results of this study are helpful to researchers in developing theories of information privacy concerns and to practitioners in promoting internet users’ willingness to provide personal information in an e-commerce context.


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