Intelligent Warning Systems: 'Technological Nudges' to Enhance User Control of IoT Data Collection, Storage and Use

The modern digital world of networking and connectivity enabled by the Internet of Things (IoT) has the paradoxical result of introducing a new era of 'smart computing' while reducing the intelligent control that individuals can exercise over their personal data. In this digital realm of big data and predictive analytics, we argue that users should be able to exert greater control over the collection, storage and use of their personal data. Our focus groups with IoT designers and users indicate that they are worried about the handling of their data, with users voicing concerns including surveillance and insecure storage of their data in the Cloud. Overall users wish for greater involvement in the management of their data. In response, we propos ea high-level design prototype of an Intelligent Warning Application ('IWA') titled 'DataMind',empowering users to better control their IoT data collection, storage and use through: i) registering devices they wish to control; ii) setting and controlling required risk levels of their personal data flows; and iii) reacting on app warnings in the form of 'technological nudges' that report risky data flows. We present three illustrating scenarios of the latter together with corrective user actions, and conclude with a discussion of further steps of the design of this app.