Title: Designing Collective Action Systems for User Privacy
Yuxi Wu
Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science
School of Interactive Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Date: Thursday, April 11, 2024
Time: 10:00AM to 1:00PM EDT
Location (in-person): TSRB 223
Location (virtual): Zoom Link
Committee:
Dr. Sauvik Das (co-advisor) – Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Keith Edwards (co-advisor) – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Joseph Calandrino – Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission
Dr. Christopher Le Dantec – School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology & Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University
Dr. Richmond Wong – School of Literature, Media, and Communication, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Ellen Zegura – School of Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
Abstract:
People feel concerned, angry, frustrated when subjected to surveillance, data breaches and other privacy-violating experiences with large institutions. However, they also feel helpless to effect change. Collective action may empower groups of people affected by such experiences to jointly voice their stories of live harm and demand redress.
In this thesis, I show that considering users’ privacy concerns and lived harms on a collective level can empower users through allowing them to (1) understand they are not alone in their experiences; (2) recognize that their harms are significant and measurable; and (3) be equipped with the appropriate tools to regularly speak out about these harms. I do this through a series of work in which I create a unified collective voice of privacy concerns, interpret the unified voice in existing legal lenses of harm, and imagine formal ways to measure and respond to privacy harms. Reflecting upon my findings from this work, I discuss how the current lack of a collective action framing within the usable privacy and security field has led to the community not addressing multiple long-standing problems, and how my work can inform future directions of research in the field.