"I would still use it but I wouldn't trust it": Evaluating Mechanisms for Transparency and Control for Smart-Home Sensors

Smart-home devices, such as smart speakers and cameras, provide convenient home automation and media control, but the sensors that continuously collect data in users' homes create privacy concerns. To attempt to increase trust, device manufacturers and researchers have developed privacy features, such as indicator lights, hardware controls, and microphone jammers. To inform the design of more trustworthy products, we conducted a 489-participant online survey to understand how device type, brand, and privacy features impact trust. Our survey also examined whether providing more information about privacy features' limitations changed participants' perceptions. Contrary to our expectations, device brand did not significantly impact trust. Hardware mute controls were most effective at increasing trust. Participants expressed high intent to use familiar software-backed features, while expressing reservations about novel features proposed by researchers (e.g., jamming devices). Participants' reactions after seeing information about privacy features' limitations varied by feature, suggesting that the features' strengths and weaknesses are not equally well-understood. Based on our findings, we make several recommendations, including that device manufacturers and researchers explore making software-backed features more secure, as our results suggest that users may use those features even if they do not consider them reliable or trustworthy.