Andreas KamilarisPostdoc Researcher IWCMC 2016Dept. of Computer Science 5-9 September 2016University of Cyprus

Privacy Concerns in Sharing Personal Consumption Data through Online Applications

Motivation

Problem Statement

Social Electricity Online Platform (SEOP)January

2014

Social Electricity Application

Best Green ICT Application in 2012

Case Studies

Cyprus Singapore

300,000 domestic premises2-month periods

3-year historical information

10.900,000 electricity measurements

Cyprus Case Study

Better engagement!

Energy Savings!05

1015202530354045

TOTAL VISITS

Day

Visi

ts (x

100)

Cyprus Case Study

Understanding about Consumption!

Cyprus Case Study

Total Participants: 198

Male 126 (63.6%)

Female 72 (36.4%)

18-24 62 (31.3%)

25-34 97 (49.0%)

35-49 32 (16.2%)

50-64 7 (3.5%)

1. Online questionnaire (Likert-scale and yes/no questions)

2. Semi-structured mini focus group sessions Total Participants: 14

Male 8 (57.1%)

Female 6 (42.9%)

18-24 7 (50.0%)

26-32 7 (50.0%)

Cyprus Case Study: Questionnaires

• 85% are willing to share their personal consumption with their online friends.

• 23% have some concerns about the overall privacy, e.g. their personal consumption revealed to third parties.

• 60% (of those having concerns) declared willing to share their consumption only with people they trusted.

• 59% (of those having concerns) were positive to share only some indicators of their personal consumption.

• 59% would feel more comfortable if the sharing of consumption data involved street/neighborhood data (instead of personal consumptions).

Reasons for being reluctant:• Consider those data strictly private.• Not trusting all of their online contacts. • Worries of being exposed to thieves.• Avoid the curiosity of the public about one’s consumption (e.g.

large consumption can be indication of wealth).• Personal data could be revealed to third parties (e.g. for

advertising).

Specific concerns on the application:• Display of real-time personal consumption data (high)• Display of weekly/monthly consumption data (low)• Showing exact location where they live on the map (medium)

Cyprus Case Study:Questionnaires

Cyprus Case Study: Questionnaires

Cyprus Case Study: Focus Groups

• “sharing personal data with online friends I trust is OK, as long as this would happen for a good purpose”

• “common benefits overcome the risks”• ”the government and many companies know already a lot

about us”• “banks constitute more serious privacy risks as they know

much about our personal lives”• “it is our duty to share our consumption, because our

habits affect the environment and the society”• “sharing only energy savings instead of consumption could

satisfy some privacy concerns”• “encourage thieves to attempt to steal when the owner is

not there”• “sometimes people you trust span across multiple

categories”

Singapore Case Study

Total Participants: 175

Male 59 (33.7%)

Female 116 (66.3%)

18-24 157 (89.7%)

25-34 15 (10.3%)

• Undergraduate students of the National University of Singapore.

• The use of Social Electricity assigned as semester project.• Participation rewarded with a 5% bonus on final grade.• Results obtained from a final report/assignment prepared by

the students at the end of the semester.• From the 175 students, 147 filled the final report• Possibility to participate anonymously.

Singapore Case Study: Final Report

• 80% believed the application fully respected their privacy.• From the rest 20%, 12% believed they exposed some place of

stay information, 4% that users could figure out their real names and 4% that they exposed their personal consumption.

• 65% were willing to sacrifice their anonymity by using their real name, considering that this could put some social pressure on them to reduce their consumption:• Share with Facebook friends only (5%). • Share with students from course only (20%). • Share with students from my tutorial group only (9%). • Share with particular contacts I can choose from (17%).• Share with everyone (19 students, 10%).

Discussion

• In both studies, a considerable percentage of users (20-23%) demand for more control over the sharing of their personal figures, whether this is their consumption or place of stay.

• People reluctant to participate in eco-feedback studies due to these privacy issues.

• Mechanisms for protecting user’s identity/location and personal consumption need to be developed.

• Users are asking for application features allowing them of managing trusted contacts with whom to share sensitive data.

• Sharing indicators of consumption (e.g. daily/weekly savings) might be more meaningful, with less concerns on privacy.

Discussion

• Privacy circles: the Google+ approach of mapping contacts to categories.

• Some users prefer a one-by-one selection of trustworthy online contacts and customized circles.

• Online assistants grouping friends according to group based policy management approaches.

• Automatic mapping of friends to categories based on standard clustering techniques might be promising.

Thank you!

For comments/suggestions/feedback you can email me on kami@cs.ucy.ac.cy.

Social Electricity App: http://www.social-electricity.com/SEOP EU Project: http://www.seop-project.eu/

Competitions! Perceived descriptive norms

Responsibility

Fair comparisons! Perceived descriptive norms

Knowledge Responsibility

Simple info on how to save energy!

Self-efficacy Knowledge

Locus of control

Environmental beliefs

Privacy! Personal experience

More details on my energy consumption!

Knowledge

Self-efficacy

Attitude

Goal Setting!Commitment

Self-efficacyResponsibility

Comparisons among people from different cultures!

Demographics

Perceived descriptive norms

Knowledge

Create your list of “green buddies” – collaborators for exchange of know-how and experiences towards energy savings!

Educational social games – compare your knowledge on energy with the online community!

Translation in 8 different European languages!

July 2015

Smart Metering

Envisioning the Future

Renewables Collaborative Consumption

CollaborativeProduction

Personalization