IoTSec:Privacy Label

= Towards Measurable Privacy - Privacy Labelling =

Objective
This page provides background for the need for a Privacy Label for Apps, Things and Services. The use of energy labels has successfully (i) enhanced the understanding of energy consumption of white goods like washing machines, freezers and others, (ii) promoted the extra costs of energy-effective white goods, and (iii) reduced the energy consumption from white goods.

Privacy labels for applications (Apps), Things and Services similar to the energy labels (A++, A+, A, B,...F) will lead a better understanding of the value of privacy, and will allow for a market introduction of privacy-aware services. Customers in Europe have an understanding of these labels for white goods, and thus will appreciate similar labelling for privacy.

We have joined forces with Consumer Services ("Forbrukerrådet") in Norway to establish the guidelines for the ‘privacy labelling’ (A++, A+, A, B …F). Ongoing work analyses the use of data, and establishes a machine-readable (semantic) framework for the calculation of the labels.

Background
The Consumer Services of Norway (Forbrukerrådet) have established a report on privacy in Apps "App-Fail". In there they have found breach of privacy by apps. They identified a lack of "understandable privacy" as the main challenge, reason being that privacy rules are often written by lawyers, to be used in court cases. Some apps use as much as 250.000 words for their description of terms and conditions, making an automatic analysis cumbersome.

Ongoing work
The ongoing work focusses on more easily to understand technical measures, and is amongst other supported through an ongoing PhD at the University of Oslo (UiO). The thesis
 * performs an analysis of privacy of home IoT devices
 * starting from "privacy by design", and identifying input parameters for "privacy".
 * Adopt the multi-metrics methodology for converting input parameters of privacy into measurable privacy
 * Provides suggestion for privacy classes, following the European energy labelling
 * provide at least two usage scenarios of devices/applications, e.g. sporting device ("speedometer") or child doll
 * criteria and evaluation of privacy labels

We are open for a Master Thesis in the area, e.g. Privacy_labels_for_IoT_consumer_products to get the rules for privacy classes in place.



= Privacy tomorrow = The suggested 'privacy labels' will come with short labels explaining, e.g.
 * A++: sharing with no others, kept on device
 * A+: sharing only with your mobile phone or other personal devices, or a configurable list of people
 * A:
 * B:
 * C: ...
 * D:...

If you want to join, please spread the word, and contact Elahe Fazeldehkordi or any member of the IoTSec project team

Our work integrates well into the Trusted IoT Label work from DigitalEurope.org, addressing DIGITALEUROPE’s views on Cybersecurity Certification and Labelling Schemes.

IoTSec discussion on IoTSec:Privacy_Label_explanation

Good examples/Related work
Forbrukerrådet (Consumer Services) has established a report on the GPS-watches for children, indicating lacks both with respect to security and privacy: https://www.forbrukerradet.no/siste-nytt/elendig-sikkerhet-i-smartklokker-for-barn (in Norwegian)

Online Trust Alliance has created an IoT ecosystem built on trust and innovation, by prioritizing safety, privacy and security
 * https://otalliance.org/initiatives/internet-things
 * https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2017/01/05/iot-trust-framework/

Here we add some examples of companies providing very good declarations for privacy:
 * Zoho - https://www.zoho.com/privacy-policy-changes-19032015-30092016.html

and not to forget the privacy policy established by the GravidPluss project for medical data used in apps, developed in conjunction and agreed with hospitals and health authorities (Helse Sør-Øst) in Norway.
 * EN: http://privacy.GravidPluss.org and NO: http://privacy.GravidPluss.no