An informed view on consent for UbiComp

Abstract

Ubiquitous computing systems tend to be complex, seamless, data-driven and interactive. Reacting to both context, and users' implicit actions resulting from the lived experience, they cast all traces of human life as potential 'data'. To augment users' endeavours, such systems are necessarily embedded below the line of human attention, drawing upon new and highly sensitive types of data. This begs the question, where is the moment of user consent and how can this moment be truly informed? We would argue that it is time to revisit our design principles in respect of consent and redress the balance of agency towards the user. We draw upon a series of multidisciplinary interviews with experts to (a) reframe consent for ubicomp, and (b) offer three indicative principles, supportive of consent, for designers to 'balance' against system functionality. We hope that this will afford a new prism through which designers might make value judgements.