How do we protect personal data?

Safeguarding personal data in today’s hyper-connected world is increasingly vital. But how should we protect personal data collected through a variety of sources, such as social media platforms and self-tracking devices? The answer lies in finding the right balance between access and use of the data, and the benefits for all involved.

A research team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) designed a card game as part of an experiment to demonstrate how context influences decisions. The study, based on the game, was published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.

Data privacy is not a game

As co-author Fàbio Duarte, principal research scientist at MIT’s Senseable City Lab, commented in a press release: “There is no absolute value on privacy. Depending on the app, people may feel that the use of their data is more or less invasive”. To assess different people’s opinions on the possible trade-off between the benefits of data-driven solutions and individual privacy, the researchers developed Data Slots. Players cooperate and compete against each other. The game has been played by more than 2 000 people worldwide: in person in 18 countries and online in 79 countries. The goal is “to let people themselves propose their ideas and evaluate the benefits and privacy issues of their peers’ ideas, in a participatory way,” explained Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable City Lab. Players exchange cards representing data possibilities, generate ideas for solutions, evaluate each other’s suggestions for benefits and privacy issues, and ultimately use the strategy to come up with potential applications for data use. The cards represent twelve types of data, such as a personal profile, health metrics and vehicle location information, related to home life, work and public spaces.

Navigating the complexities of data privacy

Some results reveal that Data Slots participants care a lot about health data and recognise the importance of using environmental data at work. Where there are clear benefits, they are less concerned about data privacy. “Even when it comes to health data in workspaces, if it is used in aggregate to improve the workspace, for some people it is worth combining personal health data with environmental data,” adds Simone Mora, research scientist at the Senseable City Lab. Martina Mazzarello, postdoctoral researcher at the Senseable City Lab, explained further: “Now maybe the company can do some interventions to improve overall health. It might be invasive, but it might give you some benefits back. Cities need to better understand citizens’ views on data privacy. Only then will they be able to make more informed decisions on issues such as the provision of better public health services. “The bottom line is that if cities disclose what they plan to do with the data and if they involve resident stakeholders to come up with their own ideas about what they could do, that would be beneficial for us,” Duarte said. And under those assumptions, people’s privacy concerns start to diminish a lot. Overall, the results show that people’s perceptions of privacy can change due to different contexts and how data is actually applied. “We show that the values attributed to data are combinatorial, situational, transactional and contextual,” the authors conclude.

More information: European Commission