pQUANT: A User-Centered Privacy Risk Analysis Framework

The last few decades have entertained a fast digital transformation of our daily activities. This has brought about numerous benefits as well as unanticipated consequences. As such, on the consequences side, information privacy incidents have become prevalent. This has further raised the concern of users and data protection bodies alike. Thus, quantifying and communicating privacy risks plays paramount role in raising user awareness, designing appropriate technical solutions, and enacting legal frameworks. However, previous research in privacy risk quantification has not considered the user’s heterogeneously subjective perceptions of privacy, and her right to informational self determination since, often, the privacy risk analysis and prevention takes place once the data is out of her control. In this paper, we present a user-centered privacy risk quantification framework coupled with granular and usable privacy risk warnings. The framework takes a new approach in that it empowers users to take informed privacy protection decisions prior to unintended data disclosure.