Privacy as Part of the App Decision-Making Process Patrick Gage Kelley, Lorrie Faith Cranor, and Norman Sadeh February 6, 2013 CMU-CyLab-13-003 CyLab Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Privacy as Part of the App Decision-Making Process Patrick Gage Kelley Lorrie Faith Cranor Norman Sadeh University of New Mexico Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT to permissions displays have trouble using them because the Smartphones have unprecedented access to sensitive personal screens are jargon-filled, provide confusing explanations, and information. While users report having privacy concerns, lack explanations for why the data is collected. they may not actively consider privacy while downloading Our research aims to provide an alternative permissions and apps from smartphone application marketplaces. Currently, privacy display that would better serve users. Specifically, we Android users have only the Android permissions display, address the following research question: Can we affect users’ which appears after they have selected an app to download, selection decisions by adding permissions/privacy informa- to help them understand how applications access their infor- tion to the main app screen? mation. We investigate how permissions and privacy could play a more active role in app-selection decisions. We de- To answer this question, we created a simplified privacy signed a short “Privacy Facts” display, which we tested in a checklist that fits on the main application display screen. We 20-participant lab study and a 366-participant online experi- then tested it in two studies: a 20-participant laboratory ex- ment.