AP4L: Adaptive PETs to Protect & emPower People during Life Transitions

AP4L是一个为期3年的跨学科研究项目，重点关注人们在经历重大人生转变时面临的在线隐私和脆弱性挑战。我们的中心目标是开发按设计保护隐私的技术，以在这些过渡期间保护和授权人们。我们的工作是由一种大多数人都熟悉的叙事驱动的。生活经常是“碰巧发生的”，导致人们忽视了他们的核心隐私和网络安全需求。例如，正在接受癌症治疗的人在讨论这个话题时，可能不太可能在社交媒体上巧妙地设置隐私。同样，正在经历性别转变的个人可能不知道他们过去的在线活动可能会如何影响未来的治疗。该项目将建立探索这些挑战的科学和理论基础，并设计和评估三项核心创新，以应对已确定的挑战。AP4L将引入一项改变步骤，使在线安全和隐私在生活过渡期间尽可能无痛和无缝。为了确保理解的广度，我们将通过一系列精心设计的共同创造活动将这些概念应用于四个非常不同的过渡，这些活动是10月21日举行的利益相关者研讨会的一部分。这些是关系破裂；LBGT+转变或性别转变；进入/离开武装部队的就业；以及发展成严重疾病或绝症。这样的转变可能会以意想不到的或违反直觉的方式显著改变隐私考虑。例如，之前与伴侣共享位置可能会在分手后导致跟踪；在社交媒体上，可能需要仔细管理不同受众(如朋友、祖父母)的出柜行为。我们将按照创造性的安全方法研究这些过渡，汇集计算机科学、法律、商业、心理学和犯罪学的跨学科专业知识。我们将把这些知识系统化，并开发过渡的性质及其与在线生活相互作用的基本模型。这些模式将为一套技术和解决方案的开发提供信息，这些技术和解决方案将通过适应性的、个性化的隐私增强干预措施，帮助人们驾驭重大的人生转变，满足每个人的需求，并增强他们的韧性、自主性、能力和联系。该套装将包括：(1)“风险游乐场”，它将帮助用户以安全的方式探索生活过渡与其数字足迹中的隐私设置之间存在潜在风险的交互，从而建立弹性；(2)“过渡守护者”，它将在生活过渡期间为用户提供实时保护。(3)“安全气泡”，它将通过将在一个人的一生过渡期间能够相互帮助(或需要一起工作的人)的人聚集在一起，同时提供额外的保障，以保护每个参与其中的人来促进联系。为了实现这一愿景，正如GB 686K实物捐助所证明的那样，我们将与26个核心合作伙伴合作，涉及执法机构(例如萨里警察局)、科技公司(例如Facebook、IBM)、支持网络(例如LGBT基金会、复仇色情帮助热线)和相关组织(例如Ofcom、万事达卡、BBC)。影响将通过各种活动来实现，包括BBC特别委托制作的关于在线生活转型的系列节目，以与公众分享知识；公司和社交平台使用我们项目的成果(例如，通过将我们的项目纳入他们的产品中，并根据我们项目的结果设计他们的产品)；以及有针对性的研讨会，以实现与合作伙伴和利益相关者的知识交流。

AP4L is a 3-year program of interdisciplinary research, centring on the online privacy & vulnerability challenges that people face when going through major life transitions. Our central goal is to develop privacy-by-design technologies to protect & empower people during these transitions. Our work is driven by a narrative that will be familiar to most people. Life often "just happens", leading people to overlook their core privacy and online safety needs. For instance, somebody undergoing cancer treatment may be less likely to finesse their privacy setting on social media when discussing the topic. Similarly, an individual undergoing gender transition may be unaware of how their online activities in the past may shape the treatment into the future. This project will build the scientific and theoretical foundations to explore these challenges, as well as design and evaluate three core innovations that will address the identified challenges. AP4L will introduce a step-change, making online safety and privacy as painless and seamless as possible during life transitionsTo ensure a breadth of understanding, we will apply these concepts to four very different transitions through a series of carefully designed co-creation activities, devised as part of a stakeholder workshop held in Oct'21. These are relationship breakdowns; LBGT+ transitions or transitioning gender; entering/ leaving employment in the Armed Forces; and developing a serious illness or becoming terminally ill. Such transitions can significantly change privacy considerations in unanticipated or counter-intuitive ways. For example, previously enabled location-sharing with a partner may lead to stalking after a breakup; 'coming out' may need careful management across diverse audiences (e.g - friends, grandparents) on social media. We will study these transitions, following a creative security approach, bringing together interdisciplinary expertise in Computer Science, Law, Business, Psychology and Criminology.We will systematise this knowledge, and develop fundamental models of the nature of transitions and their interplay with online lives. These models will inform the development of a suite of technologies and solutions that will help people navigate significant life transitions through adaptive, personalised privacy-enhanced interventions that meet the needs of each individual and bolster their resilience, autonomy, competence and connection. The suite will comprise:(1) "Risk Playgrounds", which will build resilience by helping users to explore potentially risky interactions of life transitions with privacy settings across their digital footprint in safe ways (2) "Transition Guardians", which will provide real-time protection for users during life transitions. (3) "Security Bubbles", which will promote connection by bringing people together who can help each other (or who need to work together) during one person's life transition, whilst providing additional guarantees to safeguard everyone involved.In achieving this vision, and as evidenced by £686K of in-kind contributions, we will work with 26 core partners spanning legal enforcement agencies (e.g., Surrey Police), tech companies (e.g., Facebook, IBM), support networks (e.g., LGBT Foundation, Revenge Porn Helpline) and associated organisations (e.g., Ofcom, Mastercard, BBC). Impact will be delivered through various activities including a specially commissioned BBC series on online life transitions to share knowledge with the public; use of the outputs of our projects by companies & social platforms (e.g., by incorporating into their products, & by designing their products to take into consideration the findings of our project) & targeted workshops to enable knowledge exchange with partners & stakeholders.