Policy and regulation

Using digital sensors to study social, occupational and private lives.

As digital sensors become commonplace on the market, in public spaces, people’s homes and workplaces, the General Data Protection Regulation  (GDPR) will be put to the test in how well it safeguards people’s fundamental rights (e.g. privacy, data protection, non-discrimination and human dignity).

Consequently, using digital sensors to study private and sensitive social settings also raises a host of ethical issues, not least about how to obtain genuinely informed consent when the workings of these technologies are obscure and mysterious to people. Our project is an exploration of how to overcome the mystery and an observation of people’s attitudes to having sensors around them, where and how to draw the boundaries of acceptability.

Related content:
Demystifying the technology important for obtaining trust of HomeSense participants.