"Make the Voodoo Box Go Bleep Bloop:" Exploring End Users' Understanding and Information Needs Regarding Microchips

TL;DR

This study investigates how end users perceive and understand microchips, revealing a general lack of awareness about their societal implications and emphasizing the need for better information dissemination to improve understanding.

Contribution

The paper provides empirical insights into end users' perceptions of microchips and highlights the importance of enhancing public awareness about their societal and security implications.

Findings

Participants lacked awareness of microchip security and societal impacts.

All participants expressed a desire for more information about microchips.

Information needs varied based on application context and user affinity.

Abstract

Microchips are fundamental components of modern electronic devices, yet they remain opaque to the users who rely on them daily. This opacity, compounded by the complexity of global supply chains and the concealment of proprietary information, raises significant security, trust, and accountability issues. We investigate end users' understanding of microchips, exploring their perceptions of the societal implications and information needs regarding these essential technologies. Through an online survey with 250 participants, we found that while our participants were aware of some microchip applications, they lacked awareness of the broader security, societal, and economic implications. While our participants unanimously desired more information on microchips, their specific information needs were shaped by various factors such as the microchip's application environment and one's affinity for technology interaction. Our findings underscore the necessity for improving end users' awareness and understanding of microchips, and we provide possible directions to pursue this end.