How do we protect personal data?
Safeguarding personal data in today’s hypernetworked world is becoming more and more vital. But how should we protect personal data collected through different sources, such as social media platforms and self-tracking devices? The answer lies in finding the right balance between accessing and using data, and the benefits for all involved. A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) designed a card game as part of an experiment to demonstrate how context influences decisions. The game-based study was published in the journal ‘Humanities and Social Sciences Communications’(opens in new window).
Data privacy is not a game
“There is no absolute value in privacy,” commented co-author Fàbio Duarte, principal research scientist at MIT’s Senseable City Lab, in a news release(opens in new window). “Depending on the application, people might feel use of their data is more or less invasive.” To evaluate different people’s opinions about the potential trade-off between the benefits of data-driven solutions and individual privacy, the researchers developed Data Slots(opens in new window). Players cooperate with and compete against each other. The game has been played by more than 2 000 people around the world: in person in 18 countries and online in 79. The aim is “to let people themselves come up with their own ideas and assess the benefits and privacy concerns of their peers’ ideas, in a participatory way,” explained Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable City Lab. Players trade cards that represent data possibilities, generate ideas for solutions, evaluate others’ suggestions concerning benefits and privacy concerns, and ultimately use strategy to come up with potential applications for data usage. The cards represent 12 types of data, such as a personal profile, health metrics and vehicle location information, that relate to home life, work and public spaces.
Navigating the complexities of data privacy
Some results reveal that Data Slots participants care a lot about health data and recognise the importance of using environmental data at work. When there are obvious benefits, they care less about data privacy. “Even in terms of health data in work spaces, if they are used in an aggregated way to improve the workspace, for some people it’s worth combining personal health data with environmental data,” added Simone Mora, research scientist at Senseable City Lab. Martina Mazzarello, postdoc in the Senseable City Lab, further elaborated: “Now perhaps the company can make some interventions to improve overall health. It might be invasive, but you might get some benefits back.” Cities need to gain a deeper understanding of what the public thinks about data privacy. Only then can they make more informed decisions about issues such as providing better public health services. “The bottom line is that if cities disclose what they plan to do with data, and if they involve resident stakeholders to come up with their own ideas about what they could do, that would be beneficial to us,” Duarte stated. “And in those scenarios, people’s privacy concerns start to decrease a lot.” Overall, the findings show that the perception people have of privacy can change as a result of different contexts and how the data is actually applied. “We show that values attributed to data are combinatorial, situational, transactional, and contextual,” the authors concluded.