Communicating Privacy-Utility Trade-Offs of Differential Privacy Through Analogical Reasoning
Open Access
Author:
Govere, Ephraim
Area of Honors:
Cybersecurity Analytics & Operations
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Aiping Xiong, Thesis Supervisor Anna Cinzia Squicciarini, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Differential Privacy Analogical Reasoning Privacy-Utility Trade-Offs Information Privacy Visual Analogy
Abstract:
Differential privacy (DP) techniques have been proposed and applied to protect personal data. However, it remains unclear whether users will understand DP. One approach to address this problem is by effectively communicating the privacy-utility trade-offs of DP through analogical reasoning. This project assessed the effectiveness of an analogical reasoning approach, compared to a text description, in increasing understanding of privacy-utility trade-offs of DP and the willingness of users to share their private information. We conducted an online survey with college students (N=23) using Qualtrics. A subsample of the online participants was invited for a follow-up interview through Zoom. There were no significant differences between the conditions for text-only and analogical reasoning measures. The feedback on the survey instrument experience highlighted the need to minimize the length of the text and technical jargon in the survey. Results of our study show no significant differences between the text-only condition and analogical reasoning condition. Differences between our results and several other results reveal the need for continued research in the design of textual and visual approaches to effectively and accurately communicate differential privacy to increase understanding and willingness by users to share private information.
