Saudi Arabian Perspective of Security, Privacy, and Attitude of Using Facial Recognition Technology

TL;DR

This study explores Saudi citizens' privacy, security concerns, and acceptance of facial recognition technology, comparing their attitudes with Americans and highlighting cultural differences in trust and regulation preferences.

Contribution

It provides novel insights into Saudi perspectives on FRT, using validated scales and cross-national comparison, which is scarce in existing research.

Findings

Saudis have lower privacy concerns than Americans.

Saudis trust advertisers more than Americans.

Saudis favor stricter government regulation of FRT.

Abstract

Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) is a pioneering field of mass surveillance that sparks privacy concerns and is considered a growing threat in the modern world. FRT has been widely adopted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to improve public services and surveillance. Accordingly, the following study aims to understand the privacy and security concerns, trust, and acceptance of FRT in Saudi Arabia. Validated Privacy Concerns (IUIPC-8), Security Attitudes (SA-6), and Security Behavior (SeBIS) scales are used along with replicate studies from Pew Research Center trust questions and government trust questions. In addition, we examine potential differences between Saudis and Americans. To gain insights into these concerns, we conducted an online survey involving 53 Saudi Arabia citizens who are residing in the USA. We have collected data in the US instead of Saudi Arabia to avoid the regulatory challenges of the Saudi Data & Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). Responses from closed-ended questions revealed that Saudis score much lower than Americans when it comes to security attitudes, whereas they score lower when it comes to privacy concerns. We found no significant difference between Saudis' and Americans' acceptance of the use of FRT in different scenarios, but we found that Saudis trust advertisers more than Americans. Additionally, Saudis are more likely than Americans to agree that the government should strictly limit the use of FRT.