"My Whereabouts, my Location, it's Directly Linked to my Physical Security": An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Location-Dependent Security and Privacy Perceptions among Activist Tech Users
Christian Eichenm\"uller, Lisa Kuhn, Zinaida Benenson

TL;DR
This study explores how activists perceive and manage location-based digital security risks in increasingly data-rich environments, highlighting their strategies and knowledge gaps.
Contribution
It provides qualitative insights into activists' perceptions of location data risks and their self-protection strategies in the context of pervasive digital surveillance.
Findings
Activists attempt to control their immediate digital environment.
Some choose providers based on geopolitical considerations.
Many activists lack sufficient digital safety knowledge.
Abstract
Digital-safety research with at-risk users is particularly urgent. At-risk users are more likely to be digitally attacked or targeted by surveillance and could be disproportionately harmed by attacks that facilitate physical assaults. One group of such at-risk users are activists and politically active individuals. For them, as for other at-risk users, the rise of smart environments harbors new risks. Since digitization and datafication are no longer limited to a series of personal devices that can be switched on and off, but increasingly and continuously surround users, granular geolocation poses new safety challenges. Drawing on eight exploratory qualitative interviews of an ongoing research project, this contribution highlights what activists with powerful adversaries think about evermore data traces, including location data, and how they intend to deal with emerging risks. Responses…
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Taxonomy
TopicsPrivacy, Security, and Data Protection · Impact of Technology on Adolescents
