Collaborative Research: Network Browser Security and Human Values: Theory and Practice

信息基础设施的共同利益取决于公共和私营部门所接受的精心设计的网络安全。设计良好的网络安全需要形成良好的技术机制和对潜在道德和社会价值观的响应，以及一个深思熟虑的用户交互系统。近年来，对网络安全的技术维度进行了大量的研究，但很少有系统的工作对人类价值观和用户体验的相应维度进行调查和整合。这个合作项目提供了一个跨学科合作的模型，可以加深我们对新型互动的认知、伦理和社会影响的理解。它将研究并实现网络浏览器的安全性，该浏览器集成了以下三个关键考虑因素：技术卓越，对道德和社会价值观的响应，以及对用户感知的敏感性。它将：(1)为网络安全开发一个概念框架或模型，该框架或模型考虑了人类价值观和用户体验；(2)在概念模型的指导下，设计并实现网络安全系统的工作原型；(3)将这个项目的经验应用于更好地理解设计技术的一般目的的方法，以响应人类的价值观。利用三位研究者在技术、哲学和社会科学方面的专长，这项工作将从密切研究Netscape 4.0和Internet Explorer 4.0等现有浏览器的网络安全开始。目标是描述技术机制，掌握价值含义，并理解用户对这些系统的看法。在此研究的基础上，研究者将开发一个概念模型，该模型代表技术特征、系统支持（或体现在）的价值以及用户对其交互体验的感知之间的相互作用。该模型将指导项目的下一阶段：设计并实现一个安全配置的原型，该原型明确响应值和用户的感知。用户研究和对原型的进一步哲学分析将有助于改进安全配置，并最终改进和评估模型本身。通过行业联系和其他传统方法，研究人员将传播他们的研究结果，包括概念模型、原型和他们开发的多学科方法的各个方面。

The common good of our information infrastructure depends on well designed network security that is embraced by the public and private sectors. Well designed network security requires well formed technical mechanisms and responsiveness to underlying moral and societal values, as well as a well thought out system of user interactions. In recent years, significant efforts have been directed toward developing the technical dimensions of network security, but little systematic work investigates and integrates the corresponding dimensions of human values and user experience. This collaborative project provides a model of interdisciplinary collaboration that can deepen our understanding of the cognitive, ethical and social implications of new types of inter-activity. It will study and implement security for a network browser that integrates these three key considerations: technical excellence, responsiveness to moral and societal values, and sensitivity to users' perceptions. It will: (1) develop a conceptual framework, or model, for network security that accounts for human values and user experience; (2) design and implement a working prototype of a network security system guided by the conceptual model; and (3) apply the experience of this project toward a better understanding of methodology for the general purpose of designing technology that is responsive to human values. Drawing on the technical, philosophical, and social science expertise of the three investigators, the work will begin with a close study of the network security in existing browsers such as Netscape 4.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0. The goal is to characterize the technical mechanisms, grasp value implications, and understand users' perceptions of these systems. Based on this study, the investigators will develop a conceptual model that represents the interaction among technical characteristics, values supported by (or embodied in) the system, and users' perceptions of their interactive experience with it. This model will guide the next phase of the project: to design and implement a prototype for a security configuration that is explicitly responsive to values and users' perceptions. User studies and further philosophical analysis of the prototype will help to refine the security configuration and, ultimately, to refine and assess the model itself. Through industry contacts and other traditional methods, the investigators will disseminate the results of their study, including the conceptual model, prototype, and aspects of the multidisciplinary methodology they develop.