Making Data Collection Transparent: A Focus on Consent and Transparency : The Development of a Prototype Mobile Application Centered Around Transparent Data Collection

Sammanfattning

This report documents the design choices of a mobile application prototype focused on transparency in data collection. The purpose is to investigate the lack of transparency and provide a potential solution in the form of a prototype application that can aid and serve as an example to enhance transparency. The prototype is built using Android Studio with Firebase cloud functionality and decisions are made based on previous research that shows a lack of priority in privacy and security. The result is a prototype application that includes a front-end, authentication, back-end communication, and a feature that emerged from the project, referred to as ”Contracts”. The Contracts feature is developed to explicitly inform users and grant autonomy over the data being collected, the period of collection, and the purpose of its collection. The information is presented through virtual contracts that serves as an agreement between users and the data-interested organizations. Contracts are enforced with an incentive in the form of a fictional virtual currency and through the ability to grant and withdraw consent at any given time. Future work would include implementing the necessary features to facilitate real-world use, using the application to potentially evaluate different research topics within transparency, and conducting market research to evaluate the feasibility of contract rewards.