Research Shows Mobile Phone Users Do Not Understand What Data They Might be Sharing
hubie writes:
Language used for app tracking privacy settings causes consumer confusion:
Privacy and security features that aim to give consumers more control over the sharing of their data by smartphone apps are widely misunderstood, shows new research from the University of Bath's School of Management.
43 per cent of phone users in the study were confused or unclear about what app tracking means. People commonly mistook the purpose of tracking, thinking that it was intrinsic to the app function, or that it would provide a better user experience.
App tracking is used by companies to deliver targeted advertising to smartphone users.
[...] The most common misapprehension (24 per cent) was that tracking refers to sharing the physical location of the device - rather than tracing the use of apps and websites. People thought they needed to accept tracking for food delivery and collection services, such as Deliveroo, or for health and fitness apps, because they believed their location was integral to the functioning of the app.
While just over half of participants (51 per cent) said they were concerned about privacy or security - including security of their data after it had been collected - analysis showed no association between their concern for privacy in their daily life and a lower rate of tracking acceptance.
[...] "Some of the confusion is likely to be due to lack of clarity in wording chosen by companies in the tracking prompts, which are easy to misinterpret. For example, when ASOS said 'We'll use your data to give you a more personalised ASOS experience and to make our app even more amazing' it's probably no surprise that people thought they were opting for additional functionality rather than just more relevant adverts."
[...] Other misconceptions included believing that consenting to sharing for health apps (such as period tracking apps) would mean private data being shared, or that denying tracking would remove adverts from the app.
[...] "While people are now familiar with the benefits of having PIN numbers and facial recognition to protect our devices, more work needs to be done so people can make transparent decisions about what other data is used for in the digital age."
Journal Reference:
Hannah J Hutton and David A Ellis, Exploring User Motivations Behind iOS App Tracking Transparency Decisions, CHI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580654
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