Left Alone Facing a Difficult Choice: An Expert Analysis of Websites Promoting Selected Privacy-Enhancing Technologies
摘要
The privacy community has invested considerable effort in understanding why motivated individuals do not adopt available solutions. As a result, several factors supporting individuals in adopting Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) have been revealed. However, the adoption rate remains low. To contribute in changing this current state, we adopt an unexplored approach by analysing 69 online websites promoting four selected PETs: Virtual Private Network (VPN), Tor, private browser, and private search engine. In addition to considering the accessibility of these websites, we consider a set of 24 selected criteria grounded in the factors identified in the literature as supporting individuals in adopting PETs. These criteria aim to explore the presentation of PETs to individuals. For example, we consider the presentation of aspects of PET technology, such as coverage, limitations, and speed. Our results show that, on average, only about one-third of our criteria set are fulfilled by the analysed websites. Furthermore, our accessibility audit reveals issues that could create significant obstacles for impaired users. As a result, these websites miss their primary goal of effectively informing individuals about PETs by not utilising the identified supporting factors. These results indicate that individuals are left alone in making privacy choices and do not have sufficient support for adopting PETs. To address this situation, we propose two design templates incorporating supporting factors, offering a foundation for presenting PETs to individuals to assist them in adoption.