Related papers: Understanding Privacy Over-collection in WeChat Su…
In many systems privacy of users depends on the number of participants applying collectively some method to protect their security. Indeed, there are numerous already classic results about revealing aggregated data from a set of users. The…
Contact tracing apps are powerful software tools that can help control the spread of COVID-19. In this article, we evaluated 53 COVID-19 contact tracing apps found on the Google Play Store in terms of their usage, rating, access permission,…
In the age of ubiquitous technologies, security- and privacy-focused choices have turned out to be a significant concern for individuals and organizations. Risks of such pervasive technologies are extensive and often misaligned with user…
Android employs a permission framework that empowers users to either accept or deny sharing their private data (for example, location) with an app. However, many apps tend to crash when they are denied permission, leaving users no choice…
Compared to organizations in other sectors, civil society organizations (CSOs) are particularly vulnerable to security and privacy threats, as they lack adequate resources and expertise to defend themselves. At the same time, their security…
Snapchat, like many other social platforms, provides mechanisms for its users to report content and private/public interactions that violate their sense of safety and decency. From our experience and common sense, we can safely assume that…
Privacy policies have emerged as the predominant approach to conveying privacy notices to mobile application users. In an effort to enhance both readability and user engagement, the concept of contextual privacy policies (CPPs) has been…
Online users often post facial images of themselves and other people on online social networks (OSNs) and other Web 2.0 platforms, which can lead to potential privacy leakage of people whose faces are included in such images. There is…
Google has mandated developers to use Data Safety Sections (DSS) to increase transparency in data collection and sharing practices. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of Google's Data Safety Section (DSS) using both…
The massive growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) as a network of interconnected entities [18], brings up new challenges in terms of privacy and security requirements to the traditional software engineering domain [4]. To protect the…
A "privacy behavior" in software is an action where the software uses personal information for a service or a feature, such as a website using location to provide content relevant to a user. Programmers are required by regulations or…
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…
A growing concern with advertisement libraries on Android is their ability to exfiltrate personal information from their host applications. While previous work has looked at the libraries' abilities to measure private information on their…
The rise of online social networks, user-gene-rated content, and third-party apps made data sharing an inevitable trend, driven by both user behavior and the commercial value of personal information. As service providers amass vast amounts…
Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that promotes human dignity and resists over-centralization by balancing personal autonomy with intervention from higher authorities only when necessary. Thus it is a relevant, but not…
Contact tracing apps have become one of the main approaches to control and slow down the spread of COVID-19 and ease up lockdown measures. While these apps can be very effective in stopping the transmission chain and saving lives, their…
As a key supplement to privacy policies that are known to be lengthy and difficult to read, Apple has launched the app privacy labels, which purportedly help users more easily understand an app's privacy practices. However, false and…
The apps installed on a smartphone can reveal much information about a user, such as their medical conditions, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs. Additionally, the presence or absence of particular apps on a smartphone can inform an…
Romantic AI chatbots have quickly attracted users, but their emotional use raises concerns about privacy and safety. As people turn to these systems for intimacy, comfort, and emotionally significant interaction, they often disclose highly…
Rapidly changing social norms and national, legal, and political conditions socially constrain people from discussing sensitive topics such as sexuality or religion. Such constrained, vulnerable minorities are often worried about…