"I need to learn better searching tactics for privacy policy laws." Investigating Software Developers' Behavior When Using Sources on Privacy Issues
Stefan Albert Horstmann, Sandy Hong, Maziar Niazian, Cristiana Santos, Alena Naiakshina

TL;DR
This study examines how software developers seek privacy law information, revealing challenges with current sources and highlighting the need for more effective, accessible privacy resources to support compliant development.
Contribution
It provides empirical insights into developers' information-seeking behavior and evaluates the effectiveness of current sources, including AI assistants, in privacy-related tasks.
Findings
Developers find personal knowledge insufficient for privacy issues.
Web content is often too complex for quick understanding.
AI assistants offer clear responses but lack contextual relevance.
Abstract
Since the introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), software developers increasingly have to make privacy-related decisions during system design and implementation. However, past research showed that they often lack legal expertise and struggle with privacy-compliant development. To shed light on how effective current information sources are in supporting them with privacy-sensitive implementation, we conducted a qualitative study with 30 developers. Participants were presented with a privacy-sensitive scenario and asked to identify privacy issues and suggest measures using their knowledge, online resources, and an AI assistant. We observed developers' decision-making in think-aloud sessions and discussed it in follow-up interviews. We found that participants struggled with all three sources: personal knowledge…
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Taxonomy
TopicsPrivacy, Security, and Data Protection · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Open Source Software Innovations
