Information Privacy Research Articles

Filling the Void: How E.U. Privacy Law Spills Over to the U.S.

There is mounting evidence that the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has influenced the information privacy policies and practices that firms adopt in relation to people outside of the E.U., even when that is not required by the E.U. regulation. We use a hand-coded dataset of privacy policies from firms’ U.S. and E.U.-facing websites to document and explain these kinds of international regulatory spillovers. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that spillovers are driven by the costs of complying with different standards in different parts of the same firm. In fact, 75% of the firms in our sample use the same privacy policy for their U.S. and E.U.-facing websites. At the same time, our findings do not support the conclusion that firms comply with the GDPR in their U.S.-facing privacy policies out of fear of being sanctioned if the policy is somehow applied to E.U. residents. Finally, we find that spillovers are more prevalent among firms with a physical presence in the E.U. This suggests that international networks of compliance professionals may play a significant and understudied role in regulatory compliance, perhaps by providing channels for norms and resources to move across borders.

When Online and Offline Environments Meet

Theory of situational privacy and self-disclosure posits that perceived levels of privacy are determined by perceptions of the environment, and that certain levels of privacy are necessary for self-disclosure. In video consultations, auditory and visual aspects of the doctor’s environment can cause patients to experience more or less privacy. To provide empirical evidence for these theoretical assumptions, we conducted a 2 (auditory environmental factor: doctor wearing headphones vs. not) by 2 (visual environmental factor: doctor showing the entire office vs. not) between-subjects scenario-based experiment (N = 163). Participants imagined themselves in a video consultation with a doctor and reported their information and territory privacy concerns and willingness to disclose to the doctor. Results showed that the ability to see the doctor’s entire office led to lower information privacy concerns, which – in turn – were associated with increased willingness to disclose medical information to a doctor. Wearing headphones by the doctor did not affect privacy concerns and self-disclosure. Manipulations of both the auditory and visual environment were not significantly associated with territory privacy concerns. These results provide direction for further research on environmental factors and their impact on patients’ privacy concerns and self-disclosure during medical video communications.

МЕТОД ДВОКАСКАДНОЇ ІМПЛАНТАЦІЇ ПРИХОВАНОЇ ІНФОРМАЦІЇ НА ОСНОВІ СТЕГАНОКОМПРЕСІЙНИХ ПЕРЕТВОРЕНЬ

In the article, the need for further development of the state is directly related to: solving issues of increasing defense capability and information security; development of information and intelligent systems. The necessity of ensuring the required level of completeness of information, compliance with the requirements of its relevance, achievement and maintenance of the appropriate level of integrity, accessibility and confidentiality is substantiated. The article emphasizes that for this purpose, complex systems of coding and information protection are being built. It is shown that recently, in order to further increase the level of security of information resources, methods of hidden embedding of information have been used. In this field of scientific and applied research, the direction of timely delivery of integral video information in a secure mode is outlined. For protection, the following can be used: meta-messages, which are formed on the basis of intelligent analysis of video frames; separate video segments of aerial photographs containing the most important information for decision-making. This article examines a class of methods of steganographic transformations, which are associated with embedding messages in digital containers, which are formed by a stream of video segments (VS). However, existing steganographic systems are based mainly on the use of the amount of psychovisual (PSV) redundancy available for reduction. Therefore, an increase in steganographic capacity leads to a loss of integrity and efficiency of delivery of video-container information. Steganocompression coding in the stegano-polyadic basis was created on the basis of taking into account the amount of redundancy permissible for reduction. In this case, in the process of compression of the components of the VS, the direct embedding of hidden information is organized. Concealment of information is carried out by technological stages, depending on the compression transformation of the transitional syntax of the quilted sequence. The key stage is the technology of two-stage implementation of the elements of the concealed message added to the stegano sequences to the syntax of the steganocompression representation of the BC components.

Efficient Task-driven Video Data Privacy Protection for Smart Camera Surveillance System

As one of the most commonly used AIoT sensors, smart cameras and their supporting services, namely cloud video surveillance (CVS) systems, have brought great convenience to people’s lives. Recent CVS providers use different machine learning techniques to improve their services (regarded as tasks) based on the uploaded video. However, uploading data to the CVS providers may cause severe privacy issues. Existing works that remove privacy information could not achieve a high tradeoff between data usability and privacy, because the importance of information varies with the task. In addition, it is challenging to design a real-time privacy protection mechanism, especially in resource-constrained smart cameras. In this work, we design a task-driven and efficient video privacy protection mechanism for a better tradeoff between privacy and data usability. We use Class Activation Mapping to protect privacy while preserving data usability. To improve the efficiency, we utilize the motion vector and residual matrix produced during video codec. Our work outperforms the region of interest–based methods in data protection while preserving data usability. The attack accuracy drops 70%, while the task accuracy is comparable to those without protection (within ± 4%). The average protection frame rate of the High Definition video can exceed 16 fps+ even on a CPU.

The Impact of ChatGPT on Finance Technology

With the rapid development of science and technology, financial technology has risen rapidly around the world and has become a key driving force in the financial field. The emergence of natural language processing models such as ChatGPT, has brought new possibilities to financial services. This paper mainly studies the role and impact of ChatGPT in financial technology. Focus includes its applications in customer service, investment advice and risk management, as well as the potential impact of these applications on financial operations and user experience. The purpose of the research is to gain an in-depth understanding of the application of ChatGPT in the financial field, and reveal its potential contribution to improving financial service efficiency. This study uses literature analysis, case analysis and data analysis. Through systematic combing of relevant literature, we can understand the development status of ChatGPT in financial services. The research of this paper found that ChatGPT has a significant influence in the field of financial technology. Its application in customer service can improve service efficiency and provide users with faster and more personalized services. However, to ensure information security and privacy protection, financial institutions need to carefully weigh the pros and cons when adopting ChatGPT technology.

ARS-Chain: A Blockchain-Based Anonymous Reputation-Sharing Framework for E-Commerce Platforms

E-commerce platforms incorporate reputation systems that allow buyers to rate sellers after transactions. However, existing reputation systems face challenges such as privacy leakage, linkability, and multiple rating attacks. The feedback data can inadvertently expose user information privacy because they reveal the buyers’ identities and preferences, which deters a significant number of users from providing their ratings. Moreover, malicious actors can exploit data analysis and machine learning techniques to mine user privacy from the rating data, posing serious threats to user security and trust. This study introduces ARS-Chain, a pioneering and secure blockchain-driven anonymous reputation-sharing framework tailored for e-commerce platforms. The core of ARS-Chain is a dynamic ring addition mechanism with linkable ring signatures (LRS), where the number of LRS rings is dynamically added in alignment with the evolving purchase list, and LRS link tags are constructed with the LRS rings and item identifiers. Further, a consortium blockchain is introduced to store these anonymous ratings on e-commerce platforms. As a result, ARS-Chain ensures full anonymity while achieving cross-platform reputation sharing, making rating records unlinkable, and effectively countering multiple rating attacks. The experimental results confirm that ARS-Chain significantly enhances user information privacy protection while maintaining system performance, having an important impact on the construction of trust mechanisms for e-commerce platforms.

Facilitators of and Barriers to the Use of a Digital Self-Management Service for Diagnostic Testing: Focus Group Study With Potential Users.

Health care lags in digital transformation, despite the potential of technology to improve the well-being of individuals. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake of technology in health care and increased individuals' willingness to perform self-management using technology. A web-based service, Directlab Online, provides consumers with direct digital access to diagnostic test packages, which can digitally support the self-management of health. This study aims to identify the facilitators, barriers, and needs of Directlab Online, a self-management service for web-based access to diagnostic testing. A qualitative method was used from a potential user's perspective. The needs and future needs for, facilitators of, and barriers to the use of Directlab Online were evaluated. Semistructured focus group meetings were conducted in 2022. Two focus groups were focused on sexually transmitted infection test packages and 2 were focused on prevention test packages. Data analysis was performed according to the principles of the Framework Method. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research was used to categorize the facilitators and barriers. In total, 19 participants, with a mean age of 34.32 (SD 14.70) years, participated in the focus groups. Important barriers were a lack of privacy information, too much and difficult information, and a commercial appearance. Important facilitators were the right amount of information, the right kind of tests, and the involvement of a health care professional. The need for a service such as Directlab Online was to ensure its availability for users' health and to maintain their health. According to the participants, facilitators and barriers were comprehension of the information, the goal of the website, and the overall appearance of the service. Although the service was developed in cocreation with health care professionals and users, the needs did not align. The users preferred understandable and adequate, but not excessive, information. In addition, they preferred other types of tests to be available on the service. For future research, it would be beneficial to focus on cocreation between the involved medical professionals and users to develop, improve, and implement a service such as Directlab Online.

Efficient and secure privacy protection scheme and consensus mechanism in MEC enabled e-commerce consortium blockchain

The application of blockchain technology to the field of e-commerce has solved many dilemmas, such as low transparency of transactions, hidden risks of data security and high payment costs. Mobile edge computing(MEC) can provide computational power for blockchain, and can meet the demand for high real-time and low latency in e-commerce transaction systems. However, there are still some constraints in the MEC enabled e-commerce consortium blockchain, such as the leakage of user privacy information, low security of consensus algorithm and other security issues. In this paper, we propose a secure transaction model suitable for MEC enabled e-commerce consortium blockchain, aiming to ensure the efficiency of system transaction processing while improving the security of users’ privacy information and transaction data. The model adopts the lightweight Paillier encryption algorithm to protect the security of user privacy information and transaction data to prevent the leakage of user privacy information, and optimizes the security of leader election phase of Raft consensus algorithm by introducing the shamir secret sharing protocol to improve the anti-Byzantine failure capabilities of Raft consensus algorithm. The effectiveness of the scheme proposed in this paper is demonstrated by experimental simulations.

Analysis of the Progress and Optimization Path of Digitization of Corporate Policy Services in China

With the rapid development of information technology, the digital transformation of China's corporate policy services has become a key factor in driving corporate innovation and economic growth. Studies have pointed out that digitized policy services have effectively improved policy transparency and the ease of access to policy information for enterprises, while also providing them with a more efficient and precise way to file policy declarations. However, challenges such as information silos, data security and privacy protection still exist in the digitization process. The article further discusses the optimization path and suggests measures such as strengthening cross-departmental data sharing, improving laws and regulations, and enhancing enterprises' digital literacy in order to promote the healthy development of policy service digitization. This study provides valuable references for government departments and enterprises, and is of great significance in promoting the digital transformation of corporate policy services in China.

Students health physique information sharing in publicly collaborative services over edge-cloud networks

Data privacy is playing a vital role while facing the digital life aspects. Today, the world is being extensively inter-connected through the internet of things (IoT) technologies. This huge interconnectivity is bringing very wonderful capabilities for improving the quality of life (QoL) with itself, for instance, in distributed healthcare. On the other hand, there are new challenges in the interconnectivity per use. One of the most challenging issues of IoT use in social systems and digital life is secure, trustable, and reliable interactions over IoT networks such that safety, security, and privacy in both aspects of cyber and physical worlds for humankind should be planned and controlled.Due to the less physical activity of most people in the current world, fitness and aerobic sports are now an important need at any age to help them keep healthy in their cyber-physical life, specifically, for the younger student that are still in the growth ages. However, these sport activities need to be monitored seriously and closely to not put their life in danger. Herewith, healthcare services through IoT is becoming more applicable. Therefore, health information privacy for athletes is now a hot topic of investigation as we present the topic here. We propose an IoT-based physique healthcare system considering private information sharing for athletes based on data hiding at the edge of a collaborative system. The proposed system pays attention to the key factors of healthcare IoT infrastructure but it is bringing its new suggestions for more safety. Moreover, many evaluations based on different kinds of healthcare data are provided.

Dual-optical-multiplexing-based multi-image invisible visual cryptography

In earlier research, the concept of using diffractive optics to indirectly achieve invisible visual cryptography (VC) was proposed. In this approach, the extraction process does not require complex optical implementations or additional computations. However, the system’s security and the capacity still need to be improved. Correspondingly, this paper introduces a multi-image invisible VC system based on dual optical multiplexing. Under the conditions of diffraction distance multiplexing and wavelength multiplexing, the visual keys of secret images are concealed within a phase key in the Fresnel domain. This method enhances the system’s security through dual optical multiplexing and ensures a certain capacity for information concealment. Optical experiments verify that the easy extraction and the high repeatability are all obtainable in the method.

Privacy-preserving quantum federated learning via gradient hiding

Distributed quantum computing, particularly distributed quantum machine learning, has gained substantial prominence for its capacity to harness the collective power of distributed quantum resources, transcending the limitations of individual quantum nodes. Meanwhile, the critical concern of privacy within distributed computing protocols remains a significant challenge, particularly in standard classical federated learning (FL) scenarios where data of participating clients is susceptible to leakage via gradient inversion attacks by the server. This paper presents innovative quantum protocols with quantum communication designed to address the FL problem, strengthen privacy measures, and optimize communication efficiency. In contrast to previous works that leverage expressive variational quantum circuits or differential privacy techniques, we consider gradient information concealment using quantum states and propose two distinct FL protocols, one based on private inner-product estimation and the other on incremental learning. These protocols offer substantial advancements in privacy preservation with low communication resources, forging a path toward efficient quantum communication-assisted FL protocols and contributing to the development of secure distributed quantum machine learning, thus addressing critical privacy concerns in the quantum computing era.

Integrated Communication, Sensing, and Computation Framework for 6G Networks.

In the sixth generation (6G) era, intelligent machine network (IMN) applications, such as intelligent transportation, require collaborative machines with communication, sensing, and computation (CSC) capabilities. This article proposes an integrated communication, sensing, and computation (ICSAC) framework for 6G to achieve the reciprocity among CSC functions to enhance the reliability and latency of communication, accuracy and timeliness of sensing information acquisition, and privacy and security of computing to realize the IMN applications. Specifically, the sensing and communication functions can merge into unified platforms using the same transmit signals, and the acquired real-time sensing information can be exploited as prior information for intelligent algorithms to enhance the performance of communication networks. This is called the computing-empowered integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) reciprocity. Such reciprocity can further improve the performance of distributed computation with the assistance of networked sensing capability, which is named the sensing-empowered integrated communications and computation (ICAC) reciprocity. The above ISAC and ICAC reciprocities can enhance each other iteratively and finally lead to the ICSAC reciprocity. To achieve these reciprocities, we explore the potential enabling technologies for the ICSAC framework. Finally, we present the evaluation results of crucial enabling technologies to show the feasibility of the ICSAC framework.

Social networking sites as affordable tools for high-potential personal learning networks: the case of teachers as learners in Vietnam

AbstractWhile a great deal has been published about the educational value of social networking sites (SNSs) for teachers, less has focused on teachers who are arguably more dependent on these virtual platforms for informal professional learning due to financial constraints and a lack of regular in-service professional development. Situating this study in Vietnam and focusing on teachers teaching English as a foreign language, we examined how these teachers have adapted SNSs, a tool typically used in leisure and social life, into online personal learning networks. The evidence was collected from 393 teachers’ responses to an online survey. The results from descriptive and non-parametric inferential tests revealed three main findings: (1) Teachers engage in a variety of professional learning activities using SNSs with high frequency, regardless of their self-perceived levels of technology competence or teaching experience; (2) Teachers make use of online groups on SNSs for professional topics and their preferences of topics are not likely to be determined by their experience, except for the topics of classroom management techniques and knowledge about learners; (3) The most decisive factors these teachers associated with effective professional learning on SNSs include time availability, reliability of information and materials, personal information privacy and desire to learn. Teachers’ perceptions about these factors are influenced by the frequency of their SNS use and professional work experience. The implications of these findings for teacher professional development in Vietnam, and other countries in similar economic circumstances, are also discussed.

Implementation on Anti-Theft Mobile Tracking and Monitoring System

The rapid proliferation of mobile devices has led to a significant increase in the cases of mobile theft and unauthorized access to personal data. To address these security concerns, an “Antitheft Mobile Tracking and Monitoring System” is proposed. The application aims to enhance the security of mobile devices by providing users with the means to track and recover their stolen or lost devices. The Antitheft Mobile Tracking and Monitoring System offers a comprehensive solution to combat mobile theft and enhance device security. By combining real-time GPS tracking, image capturing and use of mail protocols to facilitate them has provided it with capabilities with strong authentication measures, the system provides users with effective tools to mitigate the risks associated with mobile device theft. As mobile devices continue to play an integral role in modern life, such security measures are essential to protect user privacy and personal information. The widespread adoption of mobile devices has revolutionized the way we communicate, work, and access information. With this technological advancement, however, comes an unfortunate increase in the incidents of mobile theft and unauthorized access to personal data. The loss of a mobile device not only represents a financial setback but also exposes users to potential breaches of their privacy and security. This real-time tracking capability enables users and authorized personnel, such as law enforcement agencies, to pinpoint the device's location accurately. Key Words: GPS technology, Real-time Notification, SMTP, Authentication.

Developing a Model for Understanding the Factors that Affect Individuals' Intentions to Share Personal Information

With the outbreak of COVID-19, digital contact tracing (DCT) applications have been implemented to track the transmission of the highly contagious disease. However, there has been significant resistance to using these apps due to individuals' concerns about disclosing personal information. This study aimed to examine individuals' intentions to reveal their details on DCT applications. A conceptual framework was developed incorporating theories of dual calculus, Hofstede's cultural theory, information boundary theory, and individual factors. A quantitative approach was employed, using a random sampling methodology to gather data from 533 respondents. The proposed framework was validated through partial least squares path modeling. The findings revealed that COVID-19-related stress, lack of transparency, and uncertainty avoidance negatively predicted intentions to disclose personal information. Conversely, collectivism, expected community-related outcomes of sharing information, expected personal outcomes of sharing information, and information privacy concerns positively predicted intentions to disclose personal information. This research provides insights into the factors that influence the widespread acceptance of DCT applications and can assist related authorities in ensuring their successful implementation.

Differences in access to privacy information can partly explain digital inequalities in privacy literacy and self-efficacy

ABSTRACT Users of digital technologies are still held legally responsible for managing their personal data. However, not all users have the same opportunities for privacy management as researchers find systematic sociodemographic differences in, for example, users’ privacy literacy and self-efficacy – two important predictors of privacy management. The present study argues that one reason for such digital inequalities is how easily people have access to privacy information in their everyday lives (e.g. through their profession or social contacts). Analysing data of a representative sample of German internet users (N = 3978) by means of a Bayesian structural equation model, we find that men and more educated persons report easier access to privacy information which, in turn, positively relates to both privacy literacy and self-efficacy. Older persons feel less confident about privacy protection while men and more highly educated persons have higher privacy literacy levels. In conclusion, the present study reveals that casual access to privacy information can be important in learning and being confident about privacy management, but it cannot fully explain digital inequalities in online privacy self-efficacy and literacy.

Reforming the justice process as a basis for combating corruption

Despite the ongoing measures to combat corruption in the judicial system of the Russian Federation, there remain cases when the presiding judge in a case is guided not by the norms of laws, but by personal and other material interests, which necessitates a change in the approach to identify, eliminate the causes, prevent, disclose, investigate corruption offenses, minimize and eliminate such offenses. The subject of the study is the norms of constitutional, civil and administrative law, other normative legal and judicial acts defining the procedural provisions of ongoing trials in the Russian Federation. The purpose of the research is to study the existing measures to combat corruption in the judicial system, as well as to develop proposals aimed at identifying and suppressing them. In the course of the research, the following methods were used: dialectical, logical, systemic, functional, formal-legal, comparative-legal research methods. The study analyzes the main legislative provisions related to combating corruption, as well as procedural norms of the law of judicial processes. The novelty of the research is the consideration of judicial instances as a single entity, where judges are divided not by specific courts where they carry out their official activities, but by internal conviction, and judges are united depending on the judicial instance. At the same time, the concealment of information about the judges themselves and the introduction of certain prohibitions on establishing their identity by the participants in the process will not only reduce the dependence of judges on the participants in the process, but also increase their personal security and reduce corruption. The analysis of the conducted research allowed us to establish that currently in the Russian Federation there are cases of corruption in the judicial system, where one of the main directions is the imposition of an illegal and unjustified court order, and in some cases the acquittal of a person who committed a crime. In this regard, it is proposed to reform the process of justice, which is based on the concealment of information about the identity of the presiding judges.

Secrecy and Disclosure of Information in Sweden

Secrecy and Disclosure of Information in Sweden

Internet of Medical Things Security Frameworks for Risk Assessment and Management: A Scoping Review.

The massive expansion of the Internet of medical things (IoMT) technology brings many opportunities for improving healthcare. At the same time, their use increases security risks, brings security and privacy concerns, and threatens the functioning of healthcare facilities or healthcare provision. This scoping review aims to identify progress in designing risk assessment and management frameworks for IoMT security. The frameworks found are divided into two groups according to whether frameworks address the technological design of risk management or assess technological measures to ensure the security of the IoMT environment. Furthermore, the article intends to find out whether frameworks also include an assessment of organisational measures related to IoMT security. This review was prepared using PRISMA ScR guidelines. Relevant studies were searched in the citation databases Web of Science and Scopus. The search was limited to articles published in English between 2018 and 17 September 2023. The initial search yielded 1341 articles, of which 44 (3.3%) were included in the scoping review. A qualitative content analysis focused on selected security perspectives and progress in the given area was carried out. Thirty-two articles describe the design of risk assessment and management frameworks. Twelve articles describe the design of frameworks for assessing the security of IoMT devices and possibly offer a comparison of different IoMT alternatives. A description of the included articles was prepared from the selected security perspectives. The review shows the need to create comprehensive or holistic frameworks for operational security and privacy risk management at all layers of the IoMT architecture. It includes the design of specific technological solutions and frameworks for continuously assessing the overall level of information security and privacy of the IoMT environment. Unfortunately, none of the found frameworks offer an assessment of organizational measures even though the importance of the organization measures was highlighted in articles. Another area of interest for researchers could be the design of a general risk management database for IoMT, which would include potential IoMT-related risks connected to a particular device.