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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 Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

    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' attitude and their self-perceived extent of properly handling their users' privacy, and the importance of understanding developers' attitude towards data monetization.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the 9th International Workshop on Socio-Technical Aspects in SecuriTy (STAST)
    PublisherSpringer
    Publication statusPublished - 2019

    Research Groups and Themes

    • Cyber Security

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