Experience Designer and User Privacy

Note: This is not another conspiracy theory. It is just as I see where the internet (and hence the average netizen ) is heading (if not already there). We, as UX folks need to take our share of responsibility in doing what is right, and advocate users' privacy as vigorously as we do for usability.

All these years Experience Designers (I am guilty too) have been advocating and pursuing intelligence in every interface we've been building under the assumption that it would improve the experience of the product's users. A good experience as we have been striving to and advocating for is an easy, efficient, and enjoyable route to achieve immediate gratification of our users's goals. This was enough when life was simpler, and the user had the same or more choices in the internet as compared to the real life.

This is not the case anymore, actually it has not been the case for the last several years, and the sad thing is we've been seeing this happening right in front of us. We have either not been paying attention or we've closed our eyes and ignored this because of the perks that came with it ( often a free high quality service that looked too good to be true). Like many other things that appear too good to be true, there is almost always a catch. The catch here is we are slowly giving away everything about us. Everything, including where we are, what we are doing, who our friends are,what kind of things we like, what we talk about, what games we play, what we watch on tv (catching on as we speak), what movies we like, what credit cards we have, how much money we make , how much we spend and on what (link: http://www.mint.com/blog/updates/mint-opens-up-its-data-see-how-spending-is-truly-trending/), what our passwords are (a leading company just brushed their action off of capturing "payload data" - in other words user passwords as it was done unknowingly and it was done only on unsecured networks : Link: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.html ), everything there is to know about us and of-course things we think are nobody's business to know as well. One class action suit here or there (though good steps) might not be enough to shake up this thinking. link: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.html

As time goes by, companies are more and more convinced that it is their right to take your information without the need to ask first. They even assume it is common knowledge that the information is bound to be taken if you have it online. Unfortunately, the unsuspecting users are caught unaware and even tricked in many cases by ingenious interface designs of smartly hidden opt-out/ personalization information under fineprint, changing policies, and or some hidden abyss deep in the navigation structure where the chances of finding them on ones own is at best very low. eg: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline/

The same actions, if done in the real world qualifies for criminal charges and yet in internet (search, social networking etc) this is deemed common practice and companies are allowed to get away with this dangerous practice.

They feel it is the users' job to watch out for, and avoid such traps which seems to be (knowingly, or unknowingly) very carefully designed to succeed. As a business this makes clear monetary sense , because as more people start using such services (either lured by the freebies, or because they cannot afford to stay excluded in this day and age where one comes to think that success is measured by the amount and quickness of the information he/ she processes) this goldmine of information provides all kinds of tools for current and future marketing capabilities.

Should things keep moving in this direction (there is no indication that it will not), these are some additional questions that need to be asked every time we conceptualize a new experience.

What kind of information is okay to collect?

Why is it collected? How does it improve the users' experience?

How comfortable are the users losing some (or a lot) of their privacy in return to the free services? Do they feel violated?

Where is that ethical line?

This is our chance. Unless we step up now, it might be too late.