A Replication Study for IoT Privacy Preferences

Privacy issues have plagued the rapid proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Resource-constrained IoT devices often obscure transparency for end-users. The usability of privacy-preserving mechanisms and tools offers promise but relies on accurately capturing privacy preferences. Our work replicates a previous study to examine users’ privacy expectations and preferences for IoT devices. We specifically focus our effort on examining users’ feelings regarding their data collection in an IoT-based environment. Our work analyzes different contributing factors that impact users’ privacy decisions about data collection. Our analysis supports previous work that has argued users’ perceived benefit is an essential factor and motivating favor. In contrast to the previous study, we identified the workplace has now morphed into a sensitive location where users are uncomfortable sharing their private information.