Informational Privacy for Service Design

In this chapter we introduce the book, starting with the identification and presentation of the problem background. The research discussed in the book is about informational privacy and service design in the era of massive surveillance and data-driven interactions. The chapter briefly explores why informational privacy in service design is important and introduces the key milestones of the book: the ethical framework of privacy for service design, that helps service designers build a designerly understanding of privacy. We discuss the research questions and objectives addressed in the book, the state of the art of research about informational privacy and service design, and our research approach and strategy. The introduction ends with a chapter overview.

In this chapter, we explore the interplay between service design and design culture, tracing the roots of service design within the Italian project-centered design tradition. Through an extensive literature review, we move beyond viewing service design merely as the design of services, emphasizing the importance of interactions. We identify three critical interactions in service design: between users and services, users and touchpoints/interfaces, and users and stakeholders. These interactions are examined through the lenses of dematerialization, servitization, and innovation, highlighting their implications for new service value propositions. We stress the significance of user-stakeholder interactions, analyzing their nature and strength within the context of modernity characterized by liquidity, flexibility, and ambiguity. Ethical considerations in designing for liquid communities and sustainability are underscored. Additionally, we address the often-overlooked aspect of service as experience, and conclude with an operative definition of service design, discussing its challenges and relation to design thinking.

This chapter delves into informational privacy within the context of service design, set against the backdrop of the surveillance era driven by digitalization and servitization. It critiques “surveillance capitalism”, highlighting its biases and conceptual flaws, while adopting the perspective of a surveillance society where citizens actively engage in surveillance culture. The chapter redefines privacy for the digital age, focusing on informational privacy, which aligns with EU data protection laws and Alan Westin's influential 1967 definition. By contrasting privacy utopia and dystopia through the lens of Panopticon and Foucault’s panopticism, the authors introduce privacy scenarios and potential threats in service design. The chapter concludes by proposing a nuanced definition of privacy tailored for service design, emphasizing its practical implications.

This chapter lays the groundwork for an ethical approach to privacy in service design. It begins by identifying a gap in current service design and human-centered design research regarding informational privacy, and critiques Value Sensitive Design and its practical implications. The author argues that privacy legislation, such as in the EU, is insufficient due to loopholes and its inability to challenge surveillance capitalism. Privacy by Design is also critiqued for its compliance focus without addressing deeper privacy needs in service design. The second part emphasizes the importance of ethics over legislation for protecting informational privacy in service design. The author identifies the need to integrate privacy into service design practice and sustain it through ethics. They explore various moral approaches, ultimately advocating for Luciano Floridi’s information ethics due to its ontological link between information and human identity. This view, supported by intercultural information ethics, positions privacy as a universal human need, culturally specific yet universally relevant.

This chapter defines an ethical framework for privacy in service design, emphasizing the necessity for such a framework on ethical grounds. The framework is described as ethical, universal, human-centered, heuristic, and evolutionary, serving as a tool to help service designers understand and apply informational privacy in their work. It comprises 10 principles, each elaborated through real and speculative case studies, aimed at creating privacy-protecting and privacy-enhancing products. These principles, while increasingly practice-oriented, are immediately implementable and focus on both the users and stakeholders of service design solutions. Key aspects of the framework include transparency, interactions, security, freedom, moral agency, user experience, usability, and understandability. The chapter concludes by discussing the potential challenges and opportunities associated with implementing this privacy ethical framework for service design.

In this chapter, we provide a comprehensive overview of the concluding remarks and implications of our research. We reflect on the key findings and their impact on the field, offering insights into how our work contributes to existing knowledge and practice. Additionally, we outline our plans for future investigations, highlighting potential avenues for further exploration and development. By discussing upcoming research directions and anticipated developments, we aim to provide readers with a clear understanding of how our work will evolve and influence future studies and practices in the field.