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Artificial intelligence (AI) underpins virtually every experience that we have—from search and social media to generative AI and immersive social virtual reality (SVR). For Generation Z, there is no before AI. As adults, we must humble ourselves to the notion that AI is shaping youths’ world in ways that we don’t understand and we need to listen to them about their lived experiences. We invite researchers from academia and industry to participate in a workshop with youth activists to set the agenda for research into how AI-driven emerging technologies affect youth and how to address these challenges. This reflective workshop will amplify youth voices and empower youth and researchers to set an agenda. As part of the workshop, youth activists will participate in a panel and steer the conversation around the agenda for future research. All will participate in group research agenda setting activities to reflect on their experiences with AI technologies and consider ways to tackle these challenges. 

This qualitative study examines the privacy challenges perceived by librarians who afford access to physical and electronic spaces and are in a unique position of safeguarding the privacy of their patrons. As internet “service providers,” librarians represent a bridge between the physical and internet world, and thus offer a unique sight line to the convergence of privacy, identity, and social disadvantage. Drawing on interviews with 16 librarians, we describe how they often interpret or define their own rules when it comes to privacy to protect patrons who face challenges that stem from structures of inequality outside their walls. We adopt the term “intersectional thinking” to describe how librarians reported thinking about privacy solutions, which is focused on identity and threats of structural discrimination (the rules, norms, and other determinants of discrimination embedded in institutions and other societal structures that present barriers to certain groups or individuals), and we examine the role that low/no-tech strategies play in ameliorating these threats. We then discuss how librarians act as privacy intermediaries for patrons, the potential analogue for this role for developers of systems, the power of low/no-tech strategies, and implications for design and research of privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs).

 

Designing technologies that support the cybersecurity of older adults with memory concerns involves wrestling with an uncomfortable paradox between surveillance and independence and the close collaboration of couples. This research captures the interactions between older adult couples where one or both have memory concerns—a primary feature of cognitive decline—as they make decisions on how to safeguard their online activities using a Safety Setting probe we designed, and over the course of several informal interviews and a diary study. Throughout, couples demonstrated a collaborative mentality to which we apply a frame of citizenship in opensource collaboration, specifically (a) histories of participation , (b) lower barriers to participation, and (c) maintaining ongoing contribution. In this metaphor of collaborative enterprise, one partner (or member of the couple) may be the service provider and the other may be the participant, but at varying moments, they may switch roles while still maintaining a collaborative focus on preserving shared assets and freedom on the internet. We conclude with a discussion of what this service provider-contributor mentality means for empowerment through citizenship, and implications for vulnerable populations’ cybersecurity. 

Social media companies wield power over their users through design, policy, and through their participation in public discourse. We set out to understand how companies leverage public relations to influence expectations of privacy and privacy-related norms. To interrogate the discourse productions of companies in relation to privacy, we examine the blogs associated with three major social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram (both owned by Facebook Inc.), and Snapchat. We analyze privacy-related posts using critical discourse analysis to demonstrate how these powerful entities construct narratives about users and their privacy expectations. We find that each of these platforms often make use of discourse about "vulnerable" identities to invoke relations of power, while at the same time, advancing interpretations and values that favor data capitalism. Finally, we discuss how these public narratives might influence the construction of users' own interpretations of appropriate privacy norms and conceptions of self. We contend that expectations of privacy and social norms are not simply artifacts of users' own needs and desires, but co-constructions that reflect the influence of social media companies themselves. 

Designing technologies that support the mutual cybersecurity and autonomy of older adults facing cognitive challenges requires close collaboration of partners. As part of research to design a Safety Setting application for older adults with memory loss or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), we use a scenario-based participatory design. Our study builds on previous findings that couples’ approach to memory loss was characterized by a desire for flexibility and choice, and an embrace of role uncertainty. We find that couples don't want a system that fundamentally alters their relationship and are looking to maximize self-surveillance competence and minimize loss of autonomy for their partners. All desire Safety Settings to maintain their mutual safety rather than designating one partner as the target of oversight. Couples are open to more rigorous surveillance if they have control over what types of activities trigger various levels of oversight. 

A growing body of research suggests that intimate partner abusers use digital technologies to surveil their partners, including by installing spyware apps, compromising devices and online accounts, and employing social engineering tactics. However, to date, this form of privacy violation, called intimate partner surveillance (IPS), has primarily been studied from the perspective of victim-survivors. We present a qualitative study of how potential perpetrators of IPS harness the emotive power of sharing personal narratives to validate and legitimise their abusive behaviours. We analysed 556 stories of IPS posted on publicly accessible online forums dedicated to the discussion of sexual infidelity. We found that many users share narrative posts describing IPS as they boast about their actions, advise others on how to perform IPS without detection, and seek suggestions for next steps to take. We identify a set of common thematic story structures, justifications for abuse, and outcomes within the stories that provide a window into how these individuals believe their behaviour to be justified. Using these stories, we develop a four-stage framework that captures the change in a potential perpetrator's approach to IPS. We use our findings and framework to guide a discussion of efforts to combat abuse, including how we can identify crucial moments where interventions might be safely applied to prevent or deescalate IPS. 

Privacy and surveillance are central features of public discourse around use of computing systems. As the systems we design and study are increasingly used and regulated as potential instruments of surveillance, HCI researchers— even those whose focus is not privacy—find themselves needing to understand privacy in their work. Concepts like contextual integrity and boundary regulation have become touchstones for thinking about privacy in HCI. In this paper, we draw on HCI and privacy literature to understand the limitations of commonly used theories and examine their assumptions, politics, strengths, and weaknesses. We use a case study from the HCI literature to illustrate conceptual gaps in existing frameworks where privacy requirements can fall through. Finally, we advocate vulnerability as a core concept for privacy theorizing and examine how feminist, queer-Marxist, and intersectional thinking may augment our existing repertoire of privacy theories to create a more inclusive scholarship and design practice. 

Abusers increasingly use spyware apps, account compromise, and social engineering to surveil their intimate partners, causing substantial harms that can culminate in violence. This form of privacy violation, termed intimate partner surveillance (IPS), is a profoundly challenging problem to address due to the physical access and trust present in the relationship between the target and attacker. While previous research has examined IPS from the perspectives of survivors, we present the first measurement study of online forums in which (potential) attackers discuss IPS strategies and techniques. In domains such as cybercrime, child abuse, and human trafficking, studying the online behaviors of perpetrators has led to better threat intelligence and techniques to combat attacks. We aim to provide similar insights in the context of IPS. We identified five online forums containing discussion of monitoring cellphones and other means of surveilling an intimate partner, including three within the context of investigating relationship infidelity. We perform a mixed-methods analysis of these forums, surfacing the tools and tactics that attackers use to perform surveillance. Via qualitative analysis of forum content, we present a taxonomy of IPS strategies used and recommended by attackers, and synthesize lessons for technologists seeking to curb the spread of IPS.