"My Best Friend's Husband Sees and Knows Everything": A Cross-Contextual and Cross-Country Approach to Understanding Smart Home Privacy

Despres, T, Ayala Constantino, M, Zacarias Lizola, N, Sánchez Romero, G, He, S, Zhan, X, Abdi, N, Abu-Salma, R, Such, J and Bernd, J (2024) "My Best Friend's Husband Sees and Knows Everything": A Cross-Contextual and Cross-Country Approach to Understanding Smart Home Privacy. In: Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies , 2024 (4). pp. 413-449. (The 24th Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium, 15th - 20th Jul 2024, Bristol, UK and Online).

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Abstract

As smart home devices proliferate, protecting the privacy of those who encounter the devices is of the utmost importance both within their own home and in other people's homes. In this study, we conducted a large-scale survey (N=1459) with primary users of and bystanders to smart home devices. While previous work has studied people's privacy experiences and preferences either as smart home primary users or as bystanders, there is a need for a deeper understanding of privacy experiences and preferences in different contexts and across different countries. Instead of classifying people as either primary users or bystanders, we surveyed the same participants across different contexts. We deployed our survey in four countries (Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and in two languages (English and Spanish). We found that participants were generally more concerned about devices in their own homes, but perceived video cameras—especially unknown ones—and usability as more concerning in other people's homes. Compared to male participants, female and non-binary participants had less control over configuration of devices and privacy settings—regardless of whether they were the most frequent user. Comparing countries, participants in Mexico were more likely to be comfortable with devices, but also more likely to take privacy precautions around them. We also make cross-contextual recommendations for device designers and policymakers, such as nudges to facilitate social interactions.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	46 Information and Computing Sciences; 4608 Human-Centred Computing; Clinical Research; Behavioral and Social Science
Subjects:	Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Divisions:	Computer Science and Mathematics
Publisher:	Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium Advisory Board
Date of acceptance:	14 February 2024
Date of first compliant Open Access:	3 September 2025
Date Deposited:	03 Sep 2025 13:19
Last Modified:	03 Sep 2025 13:19
DOI or ID number:	10.56553/popets-2024-0124
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27079

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