A Context-Driven Rethink of the Fair Information Practice Principles

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to transform the way we live and work. Intelligent devices, connected to each other and to the network, will provide platforms for new applications and services that are expected to enhance the efficiency and security of our homes, promote the effective distribution of energy, tailor educational opportunities to the needs of individual students, and improve the safety and security our infrastructure and highways. The technical implementation of the IoT will require the deployment of a wide array of sensors and systems that enable the collection, analysis, and sharing of new types of data. To fully realize the IoT’s promise, it is necessary to create an environment in which individuals trust that these innovative technologies are deployed in a protected, privacy-respectful way.Although Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs) have long formed the basis for privacy protections, the IoT significantly challenges their effective application.This paper examines how the Fair Information Practices can be applied in IoT environments, to continue to serve as reliable, practical guidance for privacy. In this article, we consider how the implementation of the FIPPs in the IoT might be guided by the analytic privacy framework of Contextual Integrity, which locates principles of appropriate information flows within particular social contexts such as the “smart” home, the modern power grid, and intelligent highways.After briefly reviewing privacy challenges introduced by the IoT, we discuss the privacy framework of Contextual Integrity and consider how this framework could serve as a roadmap for flexibly applying the FIPPs to the deployment of the IoT. The paper does not address other issues related to privacy and IoT deployment such as, for example, government access to data collected and processed via the IoT, or the challenges of applying privacy across interconnected IoT eco-systems.As a case study, we explore one particular IoT solution in detail - smart home “aging-in-place” systems that support independent living for senior citizens. We first identify and describe the nature of the home elder care environment as a social context, considering how individuals’ expectations of appropriate data collection, analysis, and circulation are shaped by social norms related to appropriate information sharing. Building on these observations, we then demonstrate how individual FIPPs might be selectively emphasized or deemphasized to respond to information flow norms, and to preserve or enhance aspects of social contexts that people most value.