Smartphone Privacy in Citizen Science

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dc.contributor.authorRoth, Hannah Michelleen
dc.contributor.committeechairYao, Danfeng (Daphne)en
dc.contributor.committeememberWang, Gang Alanen
dc.contributor.committeememberLuther, Kurten
dc.contributor.departmentComputer Scienceen
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-19T08:02:32Zen
dc.date.available2017-07-19T08:02:32Zen
dc.date.issued2017-07-18en
dc.description.abstractGroup signature schemes enable anonymous-yet-accountable communications. Such a capability is extremely useful for modern applications such as smartphone-based crowdsensing and citizen science. A prototype named GROUPSENSE was developed to support anonymous-yet-accountable crowdsensing with SRBE in Android devices. From this prototype, an Android crowdsensing application was implemented to support privacy in citizen science. In this thesis, we will evaluate the usability of our privacy-preserving crowdsensing application for citizen science projects. An in person user study with 22 participants has been performed showing that participants understood the importance of privacy in citizen science and were willing to install privacy-enhancing applications, yet over half of the participants did not understand the privacy guarantee. Based on these results, modifications to the crowdsensing application have been made with the goal of improving the participants' understanding of the privacy guarantee.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralA group signature scheme is a security solution that allows any member of a group to create a digital signature without revealing his or her identity. This enables an application user to remain anonymous-yet-accountable during communication. Such a capability is extremely useful when collecting data for scientific research, referred to as citizen science, through a modern smartphone application. A prototype named GROUPSENSE was developed to support anonymous-yet-accountable data collection with SRBE, an advanced group signature scheme, in Android devices. From this prototype, an Android application was implemented to support privacy in citizen science. In this thesis, we will evaluate the usability of our privacy-preserving application developed for citizen science projects. An in person user study with 22 participants has been performed showing that participants understood the importance of privacy in citizen science and were willing to install privacy-enhancing applications, yet over half of the participants did not understand the specified privacy guarantee. Based on these results, modifications to the application have been made with the goal of improving the participants’ understanding of the privacy guarantee.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:11467en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/78360en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectCitizen Scienceen
dc.subjectSecurityen
dc.subjectAndroid Mobile Softwareen
dc.subjectCrowdsourcingen
dc.subjectCrowdsensingen
dc.subjectGroupsensingen
dc.subjectPrivacy Guaranteeen
dc.subjectGroup Signature Schemeen
dc.subjectUser Studyen
dc.titleSmartphone Privacy in Citizen Scienceen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineComputer Science and Applicationsen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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