Smart home devices are becoming increasingly complex and data-rich. The inevitable repair of these devices will be both difficult and privacy-sensitive. A "HandyTech"—a technician for home Internet of Things (IoT) system repair—has the potential to lower barriers to repair, but privacy questions remain: Are people willing to use a HandyTech to fix a broken home IoT device despite the inherent privacy risk (i.e., allowing a third party to access potentially sensitive IoT data)? We explore this question through a vignette-based, multi-factorial survey with a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States. We further ask whether types of devices (i.e., smart speakers, refrigerators, and CPAP machines) and factors adjacent to privacy and associated with the HandyTech's work (i.e., scope of access, state-based licensing requirements, and transparency provisions) affect decisions to use or not use a HandyTech. We find that some demographic groups are more willing than others to use a HandyTech (e.g., younger age groups, those with children in the home). Current ownership of more types of smart devices increases willingness to use a HandyTech, while greater concerns over general IoT privacy decreases willingness to use a HandyTech. Device-specific perceptions also mattered, such that perceived urgency to fix is strongly associated with willingness to use a HandyTech, but concern over that device's privacy is not. In addition, reduced scope of access and increased transparency by the HandyTech statistically increased willingness to use a HandyTech. In closing, we recommend takeaways that developers and policymakers can engage with to decrease privacy concerns and increase the adoption of third-party IoT repair.

OBJECTIVE: Widespread technological changes, like the rapid uptake of telehealth in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic, risk creating or widening racial/ethnic disparities. We conducted a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of internet users to evaluate whether there were racial/ethnic disparities in self-reported telehealth use early in the pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Pew Research Center fielded the survey March 19-24, 2020. Telehealth use because of the pandemic was measured by asking whether respondents (N = 10 624) "used the internet or e-mail to connect with doctors or other medical professionals as a result of the coronavirus outbreak." We conducted survey-weighted logistic regressions, adjusting for respondents' socioeconomic characteristics and perceived threat of the pandemic to their own health (eg, no threat, minor, major). RESULTS: Approximately 17% of respondents reported using telehealth because of the pandemic, with significantly higher unadjusted odds among Blacks, Latinos, and those identified with other race compared to White respondents. The multivariable logistic regressions and sensitivity analyses show Black respondents were more likely than Whites to report using telehealth because of the pandemic, particularly when perceiving the pandemic as a minor threat to their own health. DISCUSSION: Black respondents are most likely to report using telehealth because of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly when they perceive the pandemic as a minor health threat. CONCLUSION: The systemic racism creating health and health care disparities has likely raised the need for telehealth among Black patients during the pandemic. Findings suggest opportunities to leverage a broadly defined set of telehealth tools to reduce health care disparities postpandemic.

Abstract Employers are increasingly using information and communication technologies to monitor employees. Such workplace surveillance is extensive in the United States, but its experience and potential consequences differ across groups based on gender. We thus sought to identify whether self‐reported male and female employees differ in the extent to which they find the use of workplace cameras equipped with facial recognition technology (FRT) acceptable, and examine the role of privacy attitudes more generally in mediating views on workplace surveillance. Using data from a nationally representative survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, we find that women are much less likely than men to approve of the use of cameras using FRT in the workplace. We then further explore whether men and women think differently about privacy, and if perceptions of privacy moderate the relationship between gender and approval of workplace surveillance. Finally, we consider the implications of these findings for privacy and surveillance via embedded technologies, and how the consequences of surveillance and technologies like FRT may be gendered. Note: We recognize evaluations based on a binary definition of gender are invariably partial and exclusionary. As we note in our discussion of the study's limitations, we were constrained by the survey categories provided by Pew.

We are surrounded by digital images of personal lives posted online. Changes in information and communications technology have enabled widespread sharing of personal photos, increasing access to aspects of private life previously less observable. Most studies of privacy online explore differences in individual privacy preferences. Here we examine privacy perceptions of online photos considering both social norms, collectively—shared expectations of privacy and individual preferences. We conducted an online factorial vignette study on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk ( n = 279). Our findings show that people share common expectations about the privacy of online images, and these privacy norms are socially contingent and multidimensional. Use of digital technologies to share personal photos is influenced by social context as well as individual preferences, while such sharing can affect the social meaning of privacy.

While media reports about wearable cameras have focused on the privacy concerns of bystanders, the perspectives of the `lifeloggers' themselves have not been adequately studied. We report on additional analysis of our previous in-situ lifelogging study in which 36 participants wore a camera for a week and then reviewed the images to specify privacy and sharing preferences. In this Note, we analyze the photos themselves, seeking to understand what makes a photo private, what participants said about their images, and what we can learn about privacy in this new and very different context where photos are captured automatically by one's wearable camera. We find that these devices record many moments that may not be captured by traditional (deliberate) photography, with camera owners concerned about impression management and protecting private information of both themselves and bystanders.

OBJECTIVE: Electronic health record (EHR) systems are linked to improvements in quality of care, yet also privacy and security risks. Results from research studies are mixed about whether patients withhold personal information from their providers to protect against the perceived EHR privacy and security risks. This study seeks to reconcile the mixed findings by focusing on whether accounting for patients' global ratings of care reveals a relationship between EHR provider-use and patient non-disclosure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A nationally representative sample from the 2012 Health Information National Trends Survey was analyzed using bivariate and multivariable logit regressions to examine whether global ratings of care suppress the relationship between EHR provider-use and patient non-disclosure. RESULTS: 13% of respondents reported having ever withheld information from a provider because of privacy/security concerns. Bivariate analysis showed that withholding information was unrelated to whether respondents' providers used an EHR. Multivariable analysis showed that accounting for respondents' global ratings of care revealed a positive relationship between having a provider who uses an EHR and withholding information. DISCUSSION: After accounting for global ratings of care, findings suggest that patients may non-disclose to providers to protect against the perceived EHR privacy and security risks. Despite evidence that EHRs inhibit patient disclosure, their advantages for promoting quality of care may outweigh the drawbacks. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians should leverage the EHR's value in quality of care and discuss patients' privacy concerns during clinic visits, while policy makers should consider how to address the real and perceived privacy and security risks of EHRs.

A number of wearable 'lifelogging' camera devices have been released recently, allowing consumers to capture images and other sensor data continuously from a first-person perspective. Unlike traditional cameras that are used deliberately and sporadically, lifelogging devices are always 'on' and automatically capturing images. Such features may challenge users' (and bystanders') expectations about privacy and control of image gathering and dissemination. While lifelogging cameras are growing in popularity, little is known about privacy perceptions of these devices or what kinds of privacy challenges they are likely to create.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and electronic medication administration records (eMAR) is associated with better quality of medication administration at medium-to-large acute-care hospitals. DATA/STUDY SETTING: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of data from three sources: CPOE/eMAR usage from HIMSS Analytics (2010), medication quality scores from CMS Hospital Compare (2010), and hospital characteristics from CMS Acute Inpatient Prospective Payment System (2009). The analysis focused on 11 quality indicators (January-December 2009) at 2603 medium-to-large (≥ 100 beds), non-federal acute-care hospitals measuring proportion of eligible patients given (or prescribed) recommended medications for conditions, including acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia, and surgical care improvement. Using technology adoption by 2008 as reference, hospitals were coded: (1) eMAR-only adopters (n=986); (2) CPOE-only adopters (n=115); and (3) adopters of both technologies (n=804); with non-adopters of both technologies as reference group (n=698). Hospitals were also coded for duration of use in 2-year increments since technology adoption. Hospital characteristics, historical measure-specific patient volume, and propensity scores for technology adoption were used to control for confounding factors. The analysis was performed using a generalized linear model (logit link and binomial family). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Relative to non-adopters of both eMAR and CPOE, the odds of adherence to all measures (except one) were higher by 14-29% for eMAR-only hospitals and by 13-38% for hospitals with both technologies, translating to a marginal increase of 0.4-2.0 percentage points. Further, each additional 2 years of technology use was associated with 6-15% higher odds of compliance on all medication measures for eMAR-only hospitals and users of both technologies. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation and duration of use of health information technologies are associated with improved adherence to medication guidelines at US hospitals. The benefits are evident for adoption of eMAR systems alone and in combination with CPOE.

This project examines the role of ability and reliability in assessments of trustworthiness. Specifically, we use data from the lending website Prosper.com, an online marketplace for "peer-to-peer" lending, where potential borrowers post loan requests, and other individuals bid to loan all or part of the dollar amount requested. We examine how signals of financial ability to repay interact with signals of socially defined reliability to effect individual borrowing rates on Prosper.com.

Computer security protocols usually terminate in a computer; however, the human-based services which they support usually terminate in a human. The gap between the human and the computer creates potential for security problems. We examine this gap, as it is manifested in secure Web servers. Felten et al. demonstrated the potential, in 1996, for malicious servers to impersonate honest servers. In this paper, we show how malicious servers can still do this---and can also forge the existence of an SSL session and the contents of the alleged server certificate. We then consider how to systematically defend against Web spoofing, by creating a trusted path from the browser to the human user. We present potential designs, propose a new one, prototype it in open-source Mozilla, and demonstrate its effectiveness via user studies.