Supporting Informed Self-Disclosure: Design Recommendations for Presenting AI-Estimates of Privacy Risks to Users

TL;DR

This paper explores how to effectively present AI-generated privacy risk estimates to users, aiming to enhance informed self-disclosure decisions through user-centered design and evaluation.

Contribution

It introduces five novel design concepts for presenting privacy risk estimates and provides evidence-based recommendations for improving user understanding and decision-making.

Findings

Participants understood PREs' impact on risk awareness

Additional context is needed for effective interpretation

Four key design recommendations were formulated

Abstract

People candidly discuss sensitive topics online under the perceived safety of anonymity; yet, for many, this perceived safety is tenuous, as miscalibrated risk perceptions can lead to over-disclosure. Recent advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP) afford an unprecedented opportunity to present users with quantified disclosure-based re-identification risk (i.e., "population risk estimates", PREs). How can PREs be presented to users in a way that promotes informed decision-making, mitigating risk without encouraging unnecessary self-censorship? Using design fictions and comic-boarding, we story-boarded five design concepts for presenting PREs to users and evaluated them through an online survey with N = 44 Reddit users. We found participants had detailed conceptions of how PREs may impact risk awareness and motivation, but envisioned needing additional context and support to effectively interpret and act on risks. We distill our findings into four key design recommendations for how best to present users with quantified privacy risks to support informed disclosure decision-making.