Human-centric Personal Data Protection and Consenting AssistantSystems: Towards a Sustainable Digital Economy

Abstract

With the growing digital transformation, increasingly more personal data is produced, collected, shared, and used. Online privacy has become one of the most signi cant challenges for co-creating digital artefacts in a sustainable digital world.is paper presents the results of a representative study on online privacy conducted in Austria, which shows a growing need for personalized and human-centric sociotechnical solutions which empower humans to exercise their rights to online privacy, consenting and agency. We call such systems Personal Data Protection and Consenting Assistant Systems (PDPCAS). Using a human-centric perspective on privacy and consenting, which is inspired by recent advancements in cognitive sciences and sociology of science and technology, as well as the results of our representative study, combined with the results of a set of interdisciplinary expert interviews, we provide a re ection on PDPCASs, which mainly includes the functional and non-functional requirements of such systems. Based on the results of our studies, we re ect on the main challenges for the development and adaptation of PDPCASs. We argue that besides the absence of supporting automation standards, the lack of enforceability, and the technical complexities of developing human-centric PDPCASs, the user-acceptance and user experience design pose signi cant challenges to realizing these systems in practice. Finally, the paper provides a short re ection on the importance of human-centric PDPCASs for the co-creation of a sustainable digital economy.

Towards a Human-Centric Digital Twin for Human–Machine Collaboration: A Review on Enabling Technologies and Methods

“…Although incorporating HMI technologies into DT applications can enhance user experience and support HMC, achieving true human-centricity in these technologies presents significant challenges. Despite the potential benefits of depth RGB cameras and other IoT devices, it also raises worries regarding privacy and data security when frequently recording sensitive details concerning the movements and interactions of workers, where research can also head in the direction of human-centric privacy-or data-protection systems [106]. Additionally, AR and VR devices have to be designed to be inclusive to all humans and to mitigate any sensory overload or disorientation, particularly in complex industrial environments [107].…”

Data Protection and Consenting Communication Mechanisms: Current Open Proposals and Challenges

“…L-2 and L-3 are relevant for both signals, as information is required to be provided to users besides the existence of that signal's application. ADPC requires providing users with granular information and support [9] to fulfil both human-centric (H-2, H-3, H-4) and legal (L-2, L-3) requirements. L-1 remains a challenge for both signals.…”

“…ADPC can be communicated using HTTP headers, DOM, or a JavaScript API. It was developed as part of the RE-SPECTED project, 9…”

“…The upsurge of the way in which current consent dialogues are designed reveals limitations related to human cognition, in particular information and choice overload and fatigue [8], [17]. Users are often deceived by tools that intend to support and offer cognitive, collective, contextual assistance-through which the human-centric practice of online consenting can be enabled [8], [9], [18].…”

“…Addressing such concerns to protect individual and collective rights has caused one of the most challenging interdisciplinary endeavours of our time. One way to address these concerns is to consider Humancentric, Accountable, Lawful, and Ethical (HALE) [7] manners to communicate data, metadata, information, user preferences, or decisions regarding personal data processing, and assisting end-users to express their privacy decisions through free and informed consent [8] implemented by novel sociotechnical means [9]. However, the current web-based data processing mechanisms still lack effective underlying mechanisms that provide such functionalities.…”