PriBots: Conversational Privacy with Chatbots

Abstract

Traditional mechanisms for delivering notice and enabling choice have so far failed to protect users' privacy. Users are continuously frustrated by complex privacy policies, unreach-able privacy settings, and a multitude of emerging standards. The miniaturization trend of smart devices and the emer-gence of the Internet of Things (IoTs) will exacerbate this problem further. In this paper, we propose Conversational Privacy Bots (PriBots) as a new way of delivering notice and choice through a two-way dialogue between the user and a computer agent (a chatbot). PriBots improve on state-of-the-art by offering users a more intuitive and natural interface to inquire about their privacy settings, thus allowing them to control their privacy. In addition to presenting the potential applications of PriBots, we describe the underlying system needed to support their functionality. We also delve into the challenges associated with delivering privacy as an automated service. PriBots have the potential for enabling the use of chatbots in other related fields where users need to be informed or to be put in control.

Publication
Workshop on the Future of Privacy Indicators [June 22–24, 2016, Denver, Colorado]