Abstract

Predominant research on privacy in smart homes reduces privacy to the protection of personal data. Recent research about Smart Home Systems in elderly care argues that this narrow conceptualization of privacy may be insufficient to safeguard privacy of an elderly person living in such environment. Privacy requirements for Smart Home Systems in Elderly Care (SHSEC) are usually decided based on legal regulations without considering elderly peoples’ specific needs. This paper investigates what values elderly people emphasize in relation to privacy in this context. To be able to study privacy beyond data protection we use the broad definition of privacy provided by Clarke (2006). Following this definition, the concept of privacy can be studied by four dimensions: privacy of the person, privacy of personal behavior, privacy of personal communications and privacy of personal data. The empirical data was collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews with elderly people, who participated in an interactive demonstration of a SHSEC. Our findings indicate that privacy in the context of SHSEC is a broader concept than the protection of personal data and therefore there is a need for a broader conceptualization of privacy concept in this context. Based on our empirical findings we can also conclude that understanding elderly's values in relation to privacy is important in order to ensure their privacy in this context. Finally we found that elderly people are willing and are capable to discuss and express privacy-related requirements in relation to SHS technology that make them an untapped resource in design of privacy solutions in the context of SHSEC.

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