Lead
The PIPS Lab is headed by Dr. Nina Gerberand Dr. Alina Stöver
Projects
We are working on the following projects within the PIPS Lab:
AIDA
The project addresses deceptive design practices in digital services that mislead users into unintended actions and jeopardize their privacy. Using a technology-enabled citizen science approach, citizens will be trained to identify, report and classify deceptive designs, creating a comprehensive database of their prevalence. A browser plugin is being developed that warns users of such designs and thus strengthens their digital sovereignty. The project also provides policy recommendations and expands the taxonomy of deceptive designs to support legal and regulatory measures.
Funded by: BMBF and HMWK within ATHENE
Duration: 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2028
PIs: Dr. Alina Stöver, Dr. Nina Gerber, Dr. Ephraim Zimmer (TU Darmstadt)
Researchers: Carlos Böhm, M.Sc.
Website: https://www.athene-center.de/en/research/research-areas/user-centered-security-and-privacy-8
PIONEER
The project aims to provide a privacy support tool that combines knowledge transfer and persuasive elements to increase users' privacy awareness and motivation; thus empowering them to more privacy sovereignty. Throughout the research and design process, we will consider user group specifics that may result in different requirements, e.g., for children, adolescents, parents, or elderly people. We further target sustainable behavior change by addressing different states of change, precisely: spark initial motivation, facilitate the creation of new habits, and encourage habituation of these habits in the long term (volition). Finally, we will provide a privacy support tool demonstrator that can be utilized for research and education purposes, e.g., in school contexts.
Funded by: BMBF and HMWK within ATHENE
Duration: 01.07.2024-30.06.2028
PIs: Dr. Nina Gerber, Dr. Ephraim Zimmer and Prof. Max Mühlhäuser (TU Darmstadt), Prof. Andreas Heinemann (Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences)
Researchers: Sara Hahn, M.Sc.,Dr. Alina Stöver, Dr. Angela Menig
Website: https://www.athene-center.de/en/research/research-areas/user-centered-security-and-privacy-8
Privacy Buddy
Protecting their own privacy in everyday digital life is an important goal for many users, but one that is often difficult to achieve. At the latest since the omnipresence of the mobile internet thanks to smartphones and the associated rapid spread of digital services, the collection of personal information by third parties has become increasingly difficult to control. As a result, a discrepancy between intended and actual behavior with regard to the disclosure of private data is often observed, which is referred to as the “privacy paradox”. Attempts by legislators to support users with this challenge, such as the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), are often based on the concept of “informed consent”. The assumption here is that users can decide according to their actual interests if they are provided with sufficient information, e.g. about how their data is processed and by which actors. In practice, this is reflected in extensive privacy policies or consent notices that provide information about the use of cookies on various websites. Users are often neither able to fully comprehend the content of the usually complicated texts, nor are they motivated to spend the time required to do so. In order for users to actually be able to make confident decisions about the handling of their data in everyday digital life, a new concept is needed that, on the one hand, conveys the necessary knowledge and, on the other hand, strengthens the motivation of users to acquire skills in this area and to use the skills they have acquired in everyday digital life.
Funded by: FiF Forum interdisziplinäre Forschung
Duration: 01.04.2023 – 30.06.2024
PIs: Dr. Nina Gerber, Prof. Dr. Verena Zimmermann (ETH Zürich), Dr. Ephraim Zimmer (TU Darmstadt)
Researchers: Dr. Alina Stöver
Website: https://www.fif.tu-darmstadt.de/foerderung/foerderung_details_44032.de.jsp
