Informing The Future of Data Protection in Smart Homes

TL;DR

This paper discusses the need for new data protection design techniques in smart homes, proposing a research approach combining ethnography and speculative design to address privacy challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a research project that aims to inform future data protection strategies in smart homes through innovative, interdisciplinary methods.

Findings

Identifies privacy challenges in smart home environments.

Proposes ethnography and speculative design as research methods.

Aims to develop data protection by design and default.

Abstract

Recent changes to data protection regulation, particularly in Europe, are changing the design landscape for smart devices, requiring new design techniques to ensure that devices are able to adequately protect users' data. A particularly interesting space in which to explore and address these challenges is the smart home, which presents a multitude of difficult social and technical problems in an intimate and highly private context. This position paper outlines the motivation and research approach of a new project aiming to inform the future of data protection by design and by default in smart homes through a combination of ethnography and speculative design.