Not a full post here, just thought I’d announce that I am going to be launching a research project soon (as in, in the next few weeks). Basically, it attempts to answer a question that looms over privacy and security in a very serious way, through examining an important element of threat modelling.
Sometimes on this blog I’ll mention that a particular area is under-researched, or there’s nothing on a specific question. That’s a lot more common in research than most people think, but more to the point we are trying to work to close one of those gaps, at least a little bit.
I’m still working out the specific details, but hopefully you’ll all help us out and take part when we start out. And I’m trying to get as representative a sample as possible, so when it comes out if you could share it around to your friends and family, even if they’re not interested in privacy or security in and of themselves. Because we’re trying to model people here, not just our specific audiences. As a result, we need every participant we can get!
But because I know the audience: no specific personal information will be gathered or asked about, certainly nothing identifying. We will ask some basic demographic questions (e.g. gender, age, country) for statistical purposes, but all data will be kept secure (exact mechanisms still being worked out, but suggestions welcome) just in case. In the interests of good science, the data might be made publicly available if I can figure out a way to conduct the study that’s not accidentally revealing, but we’ll see how we go. Obviously, I’ll make the decision and make it super-clear so participants can be fully informed.
I’m not sure if we’ll be able to get this published in a journal or not, assuming we find something, but that’s something I’d like to see. Psychology, as well as privacy and security, runs on research, so this is a real chance to give back, as well as further the sphere of human knowledge.
So, yeah. Details still a bit vague, but I’m super-excited! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below, or reach out to me at rocc_capitalizing@simplelogin.co.