IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2014 - 65

of public policy and public services, their contributions providing
vital resources to complement the
work of professionals [10].
In addition to providing service
guarantees and privacy protections
that establish trust and attract participation, the government also
has the responsibility of providing
equitable access to engagement
programs. In this regard, inadequate privacy provisions that act
to deter citizen engagement can
be interpreted as a form of exclusion for a segment of the community [11]. This can easily extend to
exclusion from available services
and is thus further motivation to
remove such potential barriers to
participation.
A significant limitation of PS
applications reported thus far has
been the challenges in obtaining
sufficient data, determined by the
volume of individual contributions,
as well as the total number of participants. Both of these factors greatly
influence the usefulness of the collected data. Wider demographics
ensure diverse perspectives, with
respect to qualitative data. Wider
demographics also serve to overcome measurement bias-from sensor variability and users' ability to
take sufficiently accurate quantitative measurements, which requires
consistent sensor placement. Targeted recruitment strategies and
effective negotiation with users
regarding privacy parameters may
assist [12], together with graphical tools, to visualize data that
may enhance user awareness [13].
Participation may be sustained by
providing a continuing sense of
value to the user. Provision of associated services utilizing participant
supplied data must recognize its
implicit currency [14].

Privacy Risk and Trust
Management
In literature associated with PS,
social media platforms, and now
IoT, privacy concerns are listed as a
significant issue. Adequate privacy

protection may be the most important factor affecting the willingness
of users to contribute data [15]. A
key risk is noted when the shared
information reveals more about the
user than intended, or agreed upon.
Information leakage from social
media platforms has shown the
potential to reveal location, behavior, routine, social networks, and
identity [16], [17].
Importantly, PS has the capacity
to reveal information about users
and also others in their vicinity.

The converse of this is the trust
placed in users by system operators to supply accurate data and use
the platform appropriately. This
is important because the broader
application of such a framework
may open new avenues and incentive for malicious use.
To establish trust, organizers
must provide data usage assurances, while system designers
embed related functionality within
the design (as in rule or reputation
based trust management [21] and

Exposure to excessive noise
levels is known to negatively affect
quality of life and have detrimental
health impacts.
Providing adequate safeguards is
therefore a multidimensional task
[18]. While dependent on the type
of sensing, consideration must be
given to these impacts in terms of
the design and also in communicating vulnerabilities to users. For such
emerging technologies, it must first
be determined whether the vulnerability of users actually increases.
With varying effectiveness,
design measures for preserving
privacy in PS can include masking identity, masking location, or
limiting data release [19], [20].
Challenges in protecting queries
privacy from organizers, node privacy from network operators, and
collusion attacks [15], indicates
that existing protections are inadequate. In offering user anonymity,
for example, it must be determined
from whom anonymity is required,
or rather, to whom identification
is permitted. Such features, however, may leave organizers with
no recourse to identify or manage
misbehaving or malicious users.
This necessitates a relationship of
trust between organizers and participants directly influencing the
willingness of users to share data
and utilize associated platforms.

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

FALL 2014

secure exchange of reputations
[19], [20]). PS platforms can convey the significance of risk factors
along with mitigation measures
applied. For citizen engagement
and promoting interactive government, such procedures can demonstrate transparency and grow trust.
In terms of user awareness and
participation, perceptions of cloudcomputing security reveal ongoing scepticism [22]. Demographic
changes further influence privacy
perceptions and trust assignment
[23]. Additionally, Terms of Service
agreements are considered ineffective for conveying risks and responsibilities. Also they are often ignored,
distorting user expectations of rights
[24]. While significant concerns
exist among parts of the community
[25], even with poor knowledge of
risks and available protections, users
desire more information to assist
in protecting personal data [26]. A
legal framework has been proposed
to offer users greater control and data
portability [27], however any service
guarantee depends on the ability to
detect contravening behavior and the
scope for compensation.
While significant trust and
responsibility for managing digital
|

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2014