“They Didn’t Buy Their Smart TV to Watch Me with the Kids”: Comparing Nannies’ and Parents’ Privacy Threat Models for Smart Home Devices

Abstract

Smart home devices raise privacy concerns among not only primary users, but also bystanders like domestic workers. We conducted 25 qualitative interviews with nannies and 16 with parents who employed nannies, in the US, to explore and compare their views on and privacy threat models for smart home devices. We found device-specific purposes of use inspired different perspectives among nanny participants. Most were comfortable with employers’ smart speakers and smart TVs, whose purpose had nothing to do with them. However, with indoor smart cameras, nanny participants were often not just bystanders but targets of monitoring; in such situations, they had a wider range of attitudes. In contrast, parent participants tended to have more similar views across devices. We found notable disconnects regarding disclosure, where nanny participants often hesitated to ask about cameras, but parent participants assumed nannies just didn’t care. We recommend prioritizing interventions supporting disclosure, discussion, and sharing control.