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

我们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良好的技术机制和对潜在道德和社会价值观的响应，以及深思熟虑的用户交互系统。 近年来，大量的努力已经指向开发网络安全的技术层面，但很少有系统的工作调查和整合人类价值观和用户体验的相应层面。 这个合作项目提供了一个跨学科合作的模式，可以加深我们对新型互动的认知，伦理和社会影响的理解。 它将研究和实现一个网络浏览器的安全性，该浏览器将综合这三个关键因素：技术卓越性、对道德和社会价值观的反应能力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，该框架或模型考虑到人类价值和用户体验;（2）设计和实现一个由概念模型指导的网络安全系统的工作原型;（3）应用本项目的经验，更好地理解设计技术的一般目的，即响应人类价值。 利用三位研究人员的技术、哲学和社会科学专业知识，这项工作将开始，对现有浏览器（如Netscape 4.0和Internet Explorer 4.0）的网络安全进行仔细研究。 我们的目标是描述技术机制，把握价值含义，并了解用户对这些系统的看法。 在此研究的基础上，研究人员将开发一个概念模型，该模型代表了技术特征、系统支持（或体现）的价值观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：设计和实现一个明确响应价值观和用户感知的安全配置原型。 用户研究和对原型的进一步哲学分析将有助于完善安全配置，并最终完善和评估模型本身。 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.