Internet of Things and smart home technologies pose challenges for providing effective privacy controls to users, as smart devices lack both traditional screens and input interfaces. We investigate the potential for leveraging interpersonal communication cues as privacy controls in the IoT context, in particular for smart speakers. We propose privacy controls based on two kinds of interpersonal communication cues – gaze direction and voice volume level – that only selectively activate a smart speaker’s microphone or voice recognition when the device is being addressed, in order to avoid constant listening and speech recognition by the smart speaker microphones and reduce false device activation. We implement these privacy controls in a smart speaker prototype and assess their feasibility, usability and user perception in two lab studies. We find that privacy controls based on interpersonal communication cues are practical, do not impair the smart speaker’s functionality, and can be easily used by users to selectively mute the microphone. Based on our findings, we discuss insights regarding the use of interpersonal cues as privacy controls for smart speakers and other IoT devices.
Extended Reality (AR/VR/MR) technology is becoming increasingly affordable and capable, becoming ever more interwoven with everyday life. HCI research has focused largely on innovation around XR technology, exploring new use cases and interaction techniques, understanding how this technology is used and appropriated etc. However, equally important is the investigation and consideration of risks posed by such advances, specifically in contributing to new vulnerabilities and attack vectors with regards to security, safety, and privacy that are unique to XR. For example perceptual manipulations in VR, such as redirected walking or haptic retargeting, have been developed to enhance interaction, yet subversive use of such techniques has been demonstrated to unlock new harms, such as redirecting the VR user into a collision. This workshop will convene researchers focused on HCI, XR, Safety, Security, and Privacy, with the intention of exploring safety, privacy, and security challenges of XR technology. With an HCI lens, workshop participants will engage in critical assessment of emerging XR technologies and develop an XR research agenda that integrates research on interaction technologies and techniques with safety, security and privacy research.
CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI); Virtual reality; • Security and privacy → Usability in security and privacy.
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