Evaluating the Usability of Privacy Settings in WhatsApp

Evaluating the Usability of Privacy Settings in WhatsApp
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Evaluating the Usability of Privacy Settings in WhatsApp
Introduction
Social media serves as an essential communication medium that the majority considers a reliable platform. The global statistics reveal that a significant percentage of the population, approximately more than 3 billion uses social media (Statista, 2020). Notably, most of the users prefer connecting to the platform through applications embedded in their smartphones. Social media is essential in providing the masses with information and the opportunity to share snapshots of their lives. The aspect of comparing the various privacy settings as well as policies helps in reinforcing the design applicable in privacy settings. The comparison is made more useful through the application of a trustable framework. In this case, the study evaluates the usability of various privacy settings pertaining to WhatsApp within the structured analysis of the privacy STRAP framework. The analysis results from this study provide key information on privacy and usability to designers and developers concerning social media applications alongside user applications that could be applicable in enhancing the usability of privacy (Mandrik et al., 2019).
Overview of the problem
The expansion of social media users leads to an increase in flow for both private and public data. This requires the provision of privacy settings that are secure to ensure that online users’ privacy settings are secure. Despite such provisions, research reveals that most online users operate on the same security settings for a longer period. Such actions could be attributable to a lack of knowledge across the user’s population. There are risks associated with a lack of adjustments on privacy settings (Celik et al., 2019). Despite looking easy to use, the WhatsApp platform could present different issues on privacy since there is a transfer of information to both known and unknown people. The platform users are conferred with the authority of determining who can see their private information. Consequently, users use such a policy to help control various aspects of privacy in the process of making a selection on privacy settings for their apps.
Definition of the terms: usability, privacy and usability of privacy
Usability
Usability refers to the use of self-efficacy and experiences while using a system. The usability concept of design refers to the measure of various metrics that entail ease of use alongside good functioning of the system application. On the same note, private setting usability focuses on measuring the ease of reading, location, and setting adjustments (Mohammed, 2020).
Privacy
The general definition of privacy refers to the condition of an entity being free from observation as well as other’s disturbances. Specifically, information privacy focuses on the security of private data is stored in the PC frameworks. Therefore, information security serves as a significant part of data alongside information sharing. Mohammed (2020), in his research study, established that the application of information privacy serves the purposes of securing user data. There are multiple ways to apply information privacy, such as data encryption and information masking, guaranteeing only approved access. Anderson et al. (2018) define privacy as the concept of providing protection to personal information, therefore, preventing an attack from malicious entities.
Privacy settings
The users of the social media platform are provided with privacy policies as well as settings upon registering on social media. Therefore, privacy setting refers to the nature of restrictions conferred concerning disclosure of shared content to specifically authorized users. Various usability issues could still mar the system despite users being considered as the authors of the information. According to Cho et al. (2018), users are still prone to making poor decisions pertaining to information privacy if they still have to deal with options in privacy settings. In the process of sharing and obtaining information online, the users should be aware of the fact that once content is shared, they have no control over it.
Usability of privacy
The term refers to the aspect of providing authority to users upon specifying the nature and type of information they would like to share or access. In other terms, it refers to the extent to which an app grants users information to make informed decisions concerning accessibility to shared information. Zimmeck et al. (2019) define usable privacy as the extent to which users are capable of locating, understanding, and successfully using the privacy controls for the reasons of protecting personal privacy.
Methodology
The various research methods were reviewed and evaluated, leading to adopting the STRAP framework as the research design (Kalloniatis, 2017). In this case, Heuristic evaluation refers to a technique that is dependent on various specific principles. The technique requires the use of a guideline for assessing compliance lists and signing severity ratings to the existing heuristics alongside usability. The heuristics are identified as incorporating a mixed combination of various components, especially from Nielsen’s heuristics (table 1). The method has the advantage of demonstrating the aspect of being fast and intuitive, allowing for feedback within the recommended timeline. The method also proves to be economical owing to effective asset management and time conservation.
Table 1: STRAP Heuristics
Heuristic

1 Notice/Awareness

a. Available, accessible, and clear


b. Correct, complete, and consistent


c. Presented in context


d. Not overburdening

2. Choice/Consent

a. Meaningful options


b. Appropriate defaults


c. Explicit consent

3-Integrity/Security

a. Awareness of security mechanisms


b. Transparency of transactions

4-Enforcement/
Redress

a. Access to own records


b. ability to revoke consent

Use of STRAP Heuristics Framework
STRAP is a heuristic framework that focuses on user design, providing privacy awareness design tools. The STRAP framework addresses the section of investigations that operates on privacy analysis systems (Lee et al., 2017).
Justification of using STRAP Framework
For the purposes of investigation on the usability of privacy, while focusing on HCI issues, there is the capability to review various important frameworks classified into multiple sections. The first instance entails the guidelines whereby the fair information practices provide key examples of the guidelines designed to support the protection of data, thereby providing a system-centred viewpoint (Lee et al., 2017). The other part entails the STRAP framework’s process frameworks, including the question option criteria (QOC) process. Such a process with an emphasis on users provides the much-needed direction that concerns evaluation as well as the design of privacy-sensitive information technology applications.
The STRAP framework utilizes a number of privacy heuristics useful for designers in the assessment of ...