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With the onset of COVID-19, governments worldwide planned to develop and deploy contact tracing (CT) apps to help speed up the contact tracing process. However, experts raised concerns about the long-term privacy and security implications…
After one year since the entry into force of the GDPR, all web sites and data controllers have updated their procedures to store users' data. The GDPR does not only cover how and what data should be saved by the service providers, but it…
Mini-applications, commonly referred to as mini-apps, are compact software programs embedded within larger applications or platforms, offering targeted functionality without the need for separate installations. Typically web-based or…
Nowadays the app-in-app paradigm is becoming increasingly popular, and sub-apps have become an important form of mobile applications. WeChat, the leading app-in-app platform, provides millions of sub-apps that can be used for online…
Governments, Healthcare, and Private Organizations in the global scale have been using digital tracking to keep COVID-19 outbreaks under control. Although this method could limit pandemic contagion, it raises significant concerns about user…
Mobile apps used by children often make use of harmful techniques, such as data tracking and targeted advertising. Previous research has suggested that developers face several systemic challenges in designing apps that prioritise children's…
It is well-known that most users do not read privacy policies, but almost all users tick the box to agree with them. In this paper, we analyze the 25-year history of privacy policies using methods from transparency research, machine…
Many people around the world are worried about using or even downloading COVID-19 contact tracing mobile apps. The main reported concerns are centered around privacy and ethical issues. At the same time, people are voluntarily using Social…
To help curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments and public health authorities around the world have launched a number of contact-tracing apps. Although contact tracing apps have received extensive attentions from the research…
The Android ecosystem faces a notable challenge known as fragmentation, which denotes the extensive diversity within the system. This issue is mainly related to differences in system versions, device hardware specifications, and…
To protect users' privacy, legislators have regulated the usage of tracking technologies, mandating the acquisition of users' consent before collecting data. Consequently, websites started showing more and more consent management modules --…
Third party tracking allows companies to identify users and track their behaviour across multiple digital services. This paper presents an empirical study of the prevalence of third-party trackers on 959,000 apps from the US and UK Google…
Most companies' new business practices are based on customer data. These practices have raised privacy concerns because of the associated risks. Privacy laws require companies to gain customer consent before using their information, which…
Several ICT studies give anecdotal evidences showing privacy to be an area of concern that can influence adoption of technology in the developing world. However, in-depth understanding of end users' privacy attitudes and awareness is…
Contact tracing has existed in various forms for a very long time. With the rise of COVID-19, the concept has become increasingly important to help slow the spread of the virus. One approach to modernizing contact tracing is to introduce…
Virtual Reality (VR) has gained increasing traction among various domains in recent years, with major companies such as Meta, Pico, and Microsoft launching their application stores to support third-party developers in releasing their…
On-device machine learning (ML) is quickly gaining popularity among mobile apps. It allows offline model inference while preserving user privacy. However, ML models, considered as core intellectual properties of model owners, are now stored…
Among populations with limited literacy in emerging digital markets, the adoption of mobile phones, combined with comprehension barriers and poor cybersecurity hygiene, has created hidden privacy risks. This paper examines how informed…
When smartphones, applications (a.k.a, apps), and app stores have been widely adopted by the billions, an interesting debate emerges: whether and to what extent do device models influence the behaviors of their users? The answer to this…
Vagueness and ambiguity in privacy policies threaten the ability of consumers to make informed choices about how businesses collect, use, and share their personal information. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018 was intended…