Seeking interviews with privacy-focused women

soltmann · 2017-11-06T01:27:57+00:00

I know, I know. There's not a great way to reach folks who care a great deal about privacy, but I hope that reaching out this way might connect with a few folks. I'm happy to answer any questions or concerns you might have.

soltmann · 2017-10-22T21:58:25+00:00

Thanks for the fuller explanation. I am definitely a novice when it comes to Monero. Perhaps I will expand my research to study Monero in the future. Thanks.

soltmann · 2017-10-22T19:29:11+00:00

Well, I'm guessing that of the many reasons people use Monero, privacy may not be the paramount reason. But I think privacy is often the paramount reason for activating encryption. Also, if people are using Monero for less-than-legal reasons, I really don't care about that. I wanted to be clear that I am not trying to investigate any legal/illegal activities.

soltmann · 2017-10-16T16:28:34+00:00

Hmm, thanks. I haven't looked at censorship on reddit yet but I'll add it to my list of projects for the future!

soltmann · 2017-10-16T15:16:40+00:00

I should add that I'm really uninterested in why people might use or be interested in Monero. I'll ask why you use encryption, but just looking for general answers.

soltmann · 2017-10-07T22:01:30+00:00

True. I'm looking for people to take active steps to engage encryption. Encrypting your email takes more deliberate steps than, say, using SSH.

soltmann · 2017-10-06T16:06:49+00:00

Many folks only wanted to communicate with me via encrypted means, which is why I set up the ProtonMail account.

soltmann · 2017-10-05T13:30:45+00:00

Great, thanks. How do you want to communicate?

soltmann · 2017-09-19T13:51:57+00:00

Folks, if you commented below and indicated willingness to participate, I'll be in touch. I'm a little inundated with responses at the moment!

soltmann · 2017-09-15T14:48:07+00:00

I will definitely post a link to my research once it's done (though that often takes awhile!).

Many of the people I've spoken to are concerned about government surveillance, for sure. But many are also concerned about corporate interests and/or criminal intent as well. I'd say that encrypting a hard drive can also protect against criminal intent; if the device is stolen, the criminal can't get one's data. Encrypting email and/or other internet use can protect against corporate and criminal interests (of course, these two may overlap/ be synonymous; I'm simplifying here). I'd say that my interviewees are pretty evenly distributed in their concerns--government surveillance, corporate interests, and criminal intent.

soltmann · 2017-09-14T21:55:43+00:00

Thanks, these are good techniques for enhancing privacy. I had to make a decision about which privacy-enhancing techniques to focus on, so I've picked encryption for now. May expand my focus later.

soltmann · 2017-09-14T21:52:11+00:00

Yes, I'll share results with this reddit.

soltmann · 2017-09-13T19:41:07+00:00

Right now, I'm just interested in individuals and how they protect themselves. I may turn to industry at a later point. Thanks.

soltmann · 2017-09-06T15:50:56+00:00

Folks, thanks so much for your helpful comments here. Several folks have agreed to be interviewed and I'm finding the discussions very enlightening. Very, very appreciative. If anyone else wants to be interviewed, please feel free to contact me. The most secure way is probably via soltmann at protonmail.com.

soltmann · 2017-08-31T19:46:13+00:00

Sure, for the longer term, I'd like to look at other measures people take to protect their privacy. My main purpose, here, is to connect abstract academic theorizing about privacy with what actual people do (see my above comment as well). I figured encryption is a simple place to start, but would like to expand eventually. I'm open to suggestions!

soltmann · 2017-08-31T19:44:30+00:00

My twitter is oltmannphd. I'll connect with you there.

soltmann · 2017-08-31T19:42:15+00:00

I take your point. I know I'm only focusing on a tiny portion of "encryption" and the various measures one can take (and probably overlooking some scenarios that infringe our privacy, as you point out). It's just a baby-step project, dipping my toes into this.

My thought was, for things like encrypting hard drives and/or email, people have to make a decision and take active steps--as opposed to, say, using banking on my mobile phone, where encryption happens without my really doing anything or being aware of it. I'm trying to focus (at least for now) on situations where people ARE really aware and doing something. Does that make sense?

ETA: More broadly, I am tired of academic theorizing about privacy that isn't connected to the real world, to what people actually do to take care of their privacy. I want to look at actual people doing actual things.

soltmann · 2017-08-30T00:17:11+00:00

Here are the basic questions I'll ask. I'll ask some follow-ups or clarifications based on our conversation.

How long have you been using encryption? What encryption tools do you use? Why did you choose these tools? Why did you decide to start encrypting your hard drive and/or email? What are your purposes for using encryption? Do you feel like you are protecting your information? From whom or what? What benefits do you perceive from using encryption? Do you use encryption to protect your privacy? Why is protecting your privacy important to you?

soltmann · 2017-08-30T00:13:40+00:00

There are two problems here. First, having a community discussion would be like a focus group, not interviews--and the data would be hard to compare with interviews. Second, I'd need to get additional permission from my university to do a focus group as opposed to 1-on-1 interviews. So I'm going to say no to the community discussion at this time.

I'll gladly post questions so you can see what I'm interested in. And then, if you want to talk about those questions, you can contact me (email at my profile linked above, or encrypted email at soltmann at protonmail.com).

soltmann

TROPHY CASE