Information Disclosure Concerns in the Age of Wearable Computing

Wearable devices, or “wearables,” bring great benefits but also potential information disclosure risks that could expose users’ activities without their awareness or consent. We surveyed 1,782 Internet users about various data associated with the capabilities of popular wearable devices on the market to identify the data disclosure scenarios that users find most concerning. Our study relatively ranks potential data capture scenarios enabled by wearables and investigates the impact of the recipient of the data on the perceived risk of data disclosure. We conclude with a brief survey of users’ perception of general risks associated with wearable devices, which includes factors such as safety, changes in social behaviors, and impact on fashion. To our knowledge, this is the largest user-based experiment concerning information disclosure surrounding wearables. We hope that this work will aid in the design of future user notifications, permission management, and access control schemes for wearables.