Privacy Perspectives and Practices of Chinese Smart Home Product Teams

TL;DR

This study explores how Chinese smart home product teams perceive and manage privacy, highlighting the influence of local laws and culture, and offers recommendations to improve privacy practices in this context.

Contribution

It provides novel insights into the privacy perspectives of Chinese smart home product teams, an area previously underexplored, especially regarding socio-technical and legal interventions.

Findings

Chinese data privacy laws emphasize national security over individual privacy.

Cultural and legal factors shape privacy attitudes and practices.

Recommendations for privacy improvements in Chinese multi-user smart homes.

Abstract

Previous research has explored the privacy needs and concerns of device owners, primary users, and different bystander groups with regard to smart home devices like security cameras, smart speakers, and hubs, but little is known about the privacy views and practices of smart home product teams, particularly those in non-Western contexts. This paper presents findings from 27 semi-structured interviews with Chinese smart home product team members, including product/project managers, software/hardware engineers, user experience (UX) designers, legal/privacy experts, and marketers/operation specialists. We examine their privacy perspectives, practices, and risk mitigation strategies. Our results show that participants emphasized compliance with Chinese data privacy laws, which typically prioritized national security over individual privacy rights. China-specific cultural, social, and legal factors also influenced participants' ethical considerations and attitudes toward balancing user privacy and security with convenience. Drawing on our findings, we propose a set of recommendations for smart home product teams, along with socio-technical and legal interventions to address smart home privacy issues-especially those belonging to at-risk groups-in Chinese multi-user smart homes.