Usable, Acceptable, Appropriable: Towards Practicable Privacy
It addresses privacy needs for vulnerable groups in developing countries, shifting focus from privileged users, but is incremental in proposing a conceptual framework rather than a new solution.
The paper tackles the problem of digital privacy for marginalized populations, specifically sex-trafficking survivors in Nepal, by highlighting socio-political factors like limited literacy and stigma, and proposes a framework for practicable privacy that is usable, acceptable, and appropriable.
A majority of the work on digital privacy and security has focused on users from developed countries who account for only around 20\% of the global population. Moreover, the privacy needs for population that is already marginalized and vulnerable differ from users who have privilege to access a greater social support system. We reflect on our experiences of introducing computers and the Internet to a group of sex-trafficking survivors in Nepal and highlight a few socio-political factors that have influenced the design space around digital privacy. These factors include the population's limited digital and text literacy skills and the fear of stigma against trafficked persons widely prevalent in Nepali society. We underscore the need to widen our perspective by focusing on practicable privacy, that is, privacy practices that are (1) usable, (2) acceptable, and (3) appropriable.