Examining the Use of Surveys in Measuring Privacy in Ubiquitous Computing

INTRODUCTION With the increasing popularity of ubiquitous computing and context-aware services, the privacy challenges posed by such technologies remain one of the biggest concerns. Several research efforts have been aimed at better understanding the privacy concerns, preferences, and management systems in the context of ubiquitous computing [1-4]. Most research on privacy in general and on ubiquitous computing in particular depends, however, on surveys and polls as the main tools of data collection [5, 6]. Context-aware services are very intertwined in our daily lives, they have access to sensitive and private information, and they are in most cases proactive services, (i.e. they can function without explicit and full awareness of the user). These unique characteristics of context-aware services and ubiquitous computing in general only highlight the privacy issues and introduce many challenges that make it difficult for surveys and polls to capture the full picture of user privacy concerns and preferences.