Physically-intuitive Privacy and Security: A Design Paradigm for Building User Trust in Smart Sensing Environments

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Do, Youngwook, Wu, Yuxi, Abowd, Gregory D., Das, Sauvik
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Do, Youngwook
Wu, Yuxi
Abowd, Gregory D.
Das, Sauvik
author_facet Do, Youngwook
Wu, Yuxi
Abowd, Gregory D.
Das, Sauvik
contents Sensor-based interactive systems -- e.g., "smart" speakers, webcams, and RFID tags -- allow us to embed computational functionality into physical environments. They also expose users to real and perceived privacy risks: users know that device manufacturers, app developers, and malicious third parties want to collect and monetize their personal data, which fuels their mistrust of these systems even in the presence of privacy and security controls. We propose a new design paradigm, physically-intuitive privacy and security (PIPS), which aims to improve user trust by designing privacy and security controls that provide users with simple, physics-based conceptual models of their operation. PIPS consists of three principles: (1) direct physical manipulation of sensor state; (2) perceptible assurance of sensor state; and, (3) intent-aligned sensor (de)activation. We illustrate these principles through three case studies -- Smart Webcam Cover, Powering for Privacy, and On-demand RFID -- each of which has been shown to improve trust relative to existing sensor-based systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_00312
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Physically-intuitive Privacy and Security: A Design Paradigm for Building User Trust in Smart Sensing Environments
Do, Youngwook
Wu, Yuxi
Abowd, Gregory D.
Das, Sauvik
Human-Computer Interaction
Sensor-based interactive systems -- e.g., "smart" speakers, webcams, and RFID tags -- allow us to embed computational functionality into physical environments. They also expose users to real and perceived privacy risks: users know that device manufacturers, app developers, and malicious third parties want to collect and monetize their personal data, which fuels their mistrust of these systems even in the presence of privacy and security controls. We propose a new design paradigm, physically-intuitive privacy and security (PIPS), which aims to improve user trust by designing privacy and security controls that provide users with simple, physics-based conceptual models of their operation. PIPS consists of three principles: (1) direct physical manipulation of sensor state; (2) perceptible assurance of sensor state; and, (3) intent-aligned sensor (de)activation. We illustrate these principles through three case studies -- Smart Webcam Cover, Powering for Privacy, and On-demand RFID -- each of which has been shown to improve trust relative to existing sensor-based systems.
title Physically-intuitive Privacy and Security: A Design Paradigm for Building User Trust in Smart Sensing Environments
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00312