Data, Data, Everywhere: Quantifying Software Developers’ Privacy Attitudes

Dirk van der Linden, Irit Hadar, Matthew Edwards, Awais Rashid

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Understanding developers’ attitudes towards handling personal data is vital in order to understand whether the software they create handles their users’ privacy fairly. We present the results of a study adapting an existing user-focused privacy concern scale to a software development context and running it with a sample of 123 software developers, in order to validate it and develop a model for measuring the extent to which a software developer is (dis)favorable to ensuring their users’ privacy. The developed scale exceeds thresholds for internal reliability (α>.8), composite reliability (CR >.8), and convergent validity (AVE >.6). Our findings identified a model consisting of three factors that allows for understanding of developers’ attitudes, including: (1) informed consent, (2) data minimization, and (3) data monetization. Through analysis of results from the scale’s deployment, we further discuss mismatches between developers’ attitudes and their self-perceived extent of properly handling their users’ privacy, and the importance of understanding developers’ attitudes towards data monetization.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationSocio-Technical Aspects in Security and Trust - 9th International Workshop, STAST 2019, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsThomas Groß, Theo Tryfonas
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages47-65
Number of pages19
ISBN (Print)9783030559571
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Event9th International Workshop on Socio-Technical Aspects in Security and Trust, STAST 2019 - Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Duration: 26 Sep 201926 Sep 2019

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume11739 LNCS

Conference

Conference9th International Workshop on Socio-Technical Aspects in Security and Trust, STAST 2019
Country/TerritoryLuxembourg
CityLuxembourg
Period26/09/1926/09/19

Keywords

  • Attitude
  • Developer
  • Privacy
  • Scale development

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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