Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand the privacy concerns and behavior of non-WEIRD populations in online messaging platforms. Analysis of surveys (n = 674) of WhatsApp users in Saudi Arabia and India revealed that Saudis had significantly higher concerns about being contacted by strangers. In contrast, Indians showed significantly higher concerns with respect to social contact from professional colleagues. Demographics impinge privacy preferences in both populations, but in different ways. Results from regression analysis show that there are statistically significant differences between the privacy behaviors of Saudis and Indians. In both cases, privacy concerns were strongly correlated with their reported privacy behaviors. Despite the differences, we identified technical solutions that could address the concerns of both populations of participants. We close by discussing the applicability of our recommendations, specifically those on transparency and consent, to other applications and domains.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2020 |
| Publisher | USENIX Association |
| Pages | 81-98 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781939133168 |
| State | Published - 2020 |
| Event | 16th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2020 - Virtual, Online Duration: Aug 10 2020 → Aug 11 2020 |
Publication series
| Name | Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2020 |
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Conference
| Conference | 16th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, SOUPS 2020 |
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| City | Virtual, Online |
| Period | 08/10/20 → 08/11/20 |
Funding
We would like to thank Sanchari Das and Yasmeen Rashidi for their valuable support in implementation of the surveys and data collection. This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under CNS 1565375. ∗Research performed while author was at Indiana University. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).