Privacy and the emerging Internet of Things: Using the framework of contextual integrity to inform policy

Abstract

The Internet of Things is an emerging global infrastructure that employs wireless sensors to collect, store, and exchange data. Increasingly, applications for marketing and advertising have been articulated as a means to enhance the consumer shopping experience, in addition to improving efficiency. However, privacy advocates have challenged the mass aggregation of personally-identifiable information in databases and geotracking, the use of location-based services to identify one’s precise location over time. This paper employs the framework of contextual integrity related to privacy developed by Nissenbaum (2010) as a tool to understand citizens in Hawaii’s response to specific implementations of Internet of Things-related technologies. The purpose of the study was to identify and understand specific changes in information practices that will be brought about by the Internet of Things that may be perceived as privacy violations. Specifically, what changes in actors, attributes, and transmission principle related to the Internet of Things can be identified, and what do these reveal about underlying norms? Eight citizens were interviewed, read a scenario of near-term Internet of Things implementations in the supermarket, and were asked to reflect on changes in the key actors involved, information attributes, principles of transmission. Areas where new practices occur with the Internet of Things were then highlighted as potential problems (privacy violations). Issues identified included the mining of medical data, invasive targeted advertising, and loss of autonomy through marketing profiles or personal affect monitoring. While there were numerous aspects deemed desirable by the participants, some developments appeared to tip the balance between consumer benefit and corporate gain. Their surveillance power creates an imbalance between the consumer and the corporation that may also impact individual autonomy. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.