"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

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 of activists include attempts to control one's immediate technological surroundings and to more carefully manage device-related location data. For some activists, threat modeling has also shaped provider choices based on geopolitical considerations. Since many activists have not enough digital-safety knowledge for effective protection, feelings of insecurity and paranoia are widespread. Channeling the concerns and fears of our interlocutors, we call for more research on how activists can protect themselves against evermore fine-grained location data tracking.