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Decoding the Privacy Policies of Assistive Technologies
Conference proceeding

Decoding the Privacy Policies of Assistive Technologies

Kirk Crawford, Yi Xuan Khoo, Asha Kumar, Helena Mentis and Foad Hamidi
Proceedings of the 21st International Web for All Conference, pp 87-95
13 May 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3677846.3677850
url
https://doi.org/10.1145/3677846.3677850View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Human-centered computing -- Accessibility -- Accessibility technologies Security and privacy -- Human and societal aspects of security and privacy -- Privacy protections
As assistive technologies (ATs) have evolved, they have become increasingly connected. However, these increasing connections pose significant privacy challenges, especially when user privacy is described using complex privacy policies. Our study decodes the privacy policies of 18 ATs to understand how data collection and processing are communicated with users. We find that (1) AT privacy policies are structured to offer legal protections to their companies and not always to protect user privacy, (2) AT privacy policies are absent protections for individuals with disabilities, (3) AT policies are inconsistent when describing data storage, handling, and security methods, (4) AT policies often do not differentiate between essential and non-essential data collection, and (5) there is often a lack of transparency in AT policies around third-party data sharing. These findings reveal that AT privacy policies overlook and underestimate a user’s acceptable privacy risks. We conclude our study by discussing AT design implications.

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