Insights into research at HEC Lausanne-UNIL – Have photos or videos of you ever been published on social media without your consent? Whether or not it is deliberate, the practice is now sadly widespread and anyone can be a potential victim. The research carried out at HEC Lausanne (UNIL) by Prof. M. Cherubini, Prof. K. Huguenin and Dr KS Niksirat to address the privacy issues involved suggests a series of innovative solutions for web service providers.
Revenge porn, cyberbullying, identity theft and discrimination are the most extreme cases of publishing photos or videos on the web without consent. But apart from these scenarios, in a world where software trawls the web to extract data and artificial intelligence can identify individuals by their facial features, sharing photos and videos without the consent of the data subject can create serious conflicts of confidentiality and protection of privacy.
In light of this, and the millions of photos and videos published online every day, Prof. M. Cherubini, Prof. K. Huguenin, Dr Niksirat and their co-authors decided to tackle the problem. They created and tested a number of methods based on technology or behavioural sciences with a panel of users – both people who share content and people who are featured in it.
Should web service providers opt for mechanisms to dissuade people who share content (for example, by ‘nudging’) or use automated systems to allow potential victims to control how their image is published on social media? And could a mediation system based on a chatbot be part of the solution?
Find out more on HECimpact.