Transparency Bridges: Exploring Transparency Requirements in Smartphone Ecosystems

Transparency Bridges undertakes a cross-cultural investigation of the differences in privacy attitudes between the US and the EU, as a means of exploring the design requirements for user control mechanisms. We (1) investigate the currently available mechanisms in smartphone ecosystems to inform people of collection and use of their personal data, (2) examine how these mechanisms comply with US and EU data privacy legal frameworks, and (3) analyze how different mechanisms respond to requirements in both jurisdictions.

Our approach is grounded in a cross-cultural (US-EU) in-the-wild user study to analyze people's privacy behavior in the form of privacy expectations, preferences, and concerns of different pieces of personal data within and across these ecosystem according to which -- EU or US -- legal framework is applicable to them. The outcome of this study will (a) help clarify the role of ecosystem providers in shaping privacy governance; (b) the features and factors within US and EU regulations that are most preferred and trusted and are most effective in addressing people's needs when making use of services that depend on the collection and use of their personal data; and (c) outline legal and policy recommendations for a number of stakeholders in the smartphone ecosystem, including lawmakers, regulators, and companies which can be useful when considering interpretation and implementation of current rules, and the need for reformed ones.