PyFF: A Fog-Based Flexible Architecture for Enabling Privacy-by-Design IoT-Based Communal Smart Environments

Abstract

The advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the massive growth of devices connected to the Internet are reshaping modern societies. However, human lifestyles are not evolving at the same pace as technology, which often derives into users’ reluctance and aversion. Although it is essential to consider user involvement/privacy while deploying IoT devices in a human-centric environment, current IoT architecture standards tend to neglect the degree of trust that humans require to adopt these technologies on a daily basis. In this regard, this paper proposes an architecture to enable privacy-by-design with human-in-the-loop IoT environments. In this regard, it first distills two IoT use-cases with high human interaction to analyze the interactions between human beings and IoT devices in an environment which had not previously been subject to the Internet of People principles.. Leveraging the lessons learned in these use-cases, the Privacy-enabling Fog-based and Flexible (PyFF) human-centric and human-aware architecture is proposed which brings together distributed and intelligent systems are brought together. PyFF aims to maintain end-users’ privacy by involving them in the whole data lifecycle, allowing them to decide which information can be monitored, where it can be computed and the appropriate feedback channels in accordance with human-in-the-loop principles.

Building the Bridge to a Participatory Citizenship: Curricular Integration of Communal Environmental Issues in School Projects Supported by the Internet of Things

“…The study was carried out in a secondary school, so future work should target basic education students starting in the first cycle of basic education. Regarding the IoT concept, data privacy is always important, considering information published online [ 114 ]. Some sensitive data, such as the possibility of accessing the users’ location, should be further studied, including better data encryption.…”

Review of the theory, principles, and design requirements of human-centric Internet of Things (IoT)

“…From the human perspective, more research into how to provide agency to human users is needed, with the development of mechanisms that are at a standard whereby each human actor is able to understand the situation for themselves (Lindley et al 2018). This calls for the design of novel frameworks and user interface components to provide humans with a more transparent and informed view of the role of the provided technologies and the impact at large of decisions taken (Benhamida et al 2021). Additionally, transparency should also focus on the deployment and management phases, as the system configuration of even well-designed solutions may significantly impact the users' agency.…”