A "nutrition label" for privacy

TLDR

Consumers are concerned about online privacy, yet existing privacy policy presentations are ineffective. The study aims to create a privacy label that clearly shows how organizations collect, use, and share personal data, thereby improving comprehension of privacy policies. The authors employed an iterative design process inspired by nutrition and warning labels, using focus groups and a lab study to refine the privacy label. The privacy label enabled participants to locate information faster and more accurately than natural language policies, and was more enjoyable to use.

Abstract

We used an iterative design process to develop a privacy label that presents to consumers the ways organizations collect, use, and share personal information. Many surveys have shown that consumers are concerned about online privacy, yet current mechanisms to present website privacy policies have not been successful. This research addresses the present gap in the communication and understanding of privacy policies, by creating an information design that improves the visual presentation and comprehensibility of privacy policies. Drawing from nutrition, warning, and energy labeling, as well as from the effort towards creating a standardized banking privacy notification, we present our process for constructing and refining a label tuned to privacy. This paper describes our design methodology; findings from two focus groups; and accuracy, timing, and likeability results from a laboratory study with 24 participants. Our study results demonstrate that compared to existing natural language privacy policies, the proposed privacy label allows participants to find information more quickly and accurately, and provides a more enjoyable information seeking experience.