Affective sensors, privacy, and ethical contracts

ABSTRACT

Sensing affect raises critical privacy concerns, which are examined here using ethical theory, and with a study that illuminates the connection between ethical theory and privacy. We take the perspective that affect sensing systems encode a designer's ethical and moral decisions: which emotions will be recognized, who can access recognition results, and what use is made of recognized emotions. Previous work on privacy has argued that users want feedback and control over such ethical choices. In response, we develop ethical contracts from the theory of contractualism, which grounds moral decisions on mutual agreement. Current findings indicate that users report significantly more respect for privacy in systems with an ethical contract when compared to a control.

REFERENCES

• 1: Picard, R. W. and Klein, J. (2002). Computers that Recognise and Respond to User Emotion: Theoretical and Practical Implications. Interacting with Computers, 14(2) (2002), 141--169.
• 2: DARPA SB032-038 TITLE: Integrated System for Emotional State Recognition for the Enhancement of Human Performance and Detection of Criminal Intent. http://www.dodsbir.net/solicitation/darpa032.htm
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• 5: Cudd, A. (2000). Contractarianism. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/contractarianism
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• 8: Debian Social Contract http://www.debian.org/social_contract

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Theory and methods

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.1 Public Policy Issues
          Subjects: Privacy; Ethics

Keywords:
affective computing, contractualism, emotion recognition, ethics, privacy, sensors