@article{66638,
  abstract     = {{Smart cities promise safer streets, smoother traffic, and more efficient services, enabled by dense networks of urban sensors. Yet this infrastructure, often unnoticed by citizens, introduces pervasive privacy risks, from tracking, profiling, and sensitive inferences to subtle forms of self-censorship. Despite widespread deployment, little is known about how the public understands and perceives these sensing systems. To address this gap, we present an intervention based user study (n = 172) in which participants are exposed to data collection by six urban sensors, including cameras and alternative technologies commonly framed as privacy-preserving. Participants encounter either the sensors alone or sensors accompanied by real-time data visualizations. Our results reveal widespread misunderstanding of some sensors (radar, LiDAR, Wi-Fi, depth, and thermal imaging sensors), particularly their capacity for identification and for attribute inferences such as gender or age. We also identify persistent misconceptions, including the belief that Wi-Fi poses privacy risks only when users connect to public networks. While making sensors visible and visualizing collected data improves privacy awareness, these measures alone are not enough for citizens to understand the actual risks of urban sensing. We derive recommendations for privacy-respecting smart city environments grounded in citizens’ informational needs and expectations.}},
  author       = {{Todt, Julian and Kablo, Emiram and Morsbach, Felix and Arias Cabarcos, Patricia and Strufe, Thorsten}},
  issn         = {{2299-0984}},
  journal      = {{Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{7--35}},
  publisher    = {{Privacy Enhancing Technologies Symposium Advisory Board}},
  title        = {{{“The city isn’t uploading me to TikTok”: Exploring Privacy Attitudes towards Data Collection in Urban Public Spaces}}},
  doi          = {{10.56553/popets-2026-0108}},
  volume       = {{2026}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}

@inproceedings{65493,
  author       = {{Kablo, Emiram and Sharafi, Avishan and Arias Cabarcos, Patricia}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems}},
  publisher    = {{ACM}},
  title        = {{{"I store some passwords in WhatsApp": Understanding User Experiences and Usability Challenges of Password Managers in Virtual Reality}}},
  doi          = {{10.1145/3772363.3798346}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}

@inproceedings{66864,
  abstract     = {{When signing digital documents, users often insert scanned or digitized handwritten signatures, which provide no assurance of a document’s authenticity and integrity. Cryptographic signatures offer such guarantees, but are rarely adopted due to persistent usability challenges. This paper explores the potential of digital identity wallets for securely and intuitively signing documents with verified personal data. To this end, we developed IdentitySign, an open-source prototype application, and evaluated it through a user study (N=74). Our results indicate good usability but also reveal potential pitfalls for this and similar wallet-based signature applications, such as unjustified trust in documents with signatures that are cryptographically valid but signed by the wrong signer. We provide guidelines and insights for creating user-centric, secure, and trustworthy digital signage applications using identity wallets.}},
  author       = {{Last, Yorick}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security}},
  location     = {{Hannover, Germany}},
  title        = {{{IdentitySign: Design and User Study of a Prototype Application for Digitally Signing Documents Using an Identity Wallet}}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}

@inproceedings{59019,
  abstract     = {{To facilitate the growing demand for a universal means of digital identification across services, while preserving user control and privacy, multiple digital identity implementations have emerged. From a technical perspective, many of these rely on established concepts within cryptography, allowing them to provide benefits in terms of security and privacy. Recent legislation also promises broader recognition and acceptance of digital identities, both in the digital world and beyond. However, research into the usability, accessibility, and user understanding of digital identities is rare. We argue that the development of usable digital identity wallets is vital to the successful and inclusive application of digital identities in society. In this vision paper, we describe our research plans for obtaining a better understanding of how to develop these usable digital identities wallets.}},
  author       = {{Last, Yorick and Arias Cabarcos, Patricia}},
  booktitle    = {{Symposium on Usable Security and Privacy (USEC) 2025}},
  isbn         = {{979-8-9919276-5-9}},
  location     = {{San Diego, U.S.A.}},
  title        = {{{Vision: Towards True User-Centric Design for Digital Identity Wallets}}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}

@inproceedings{61144,
  author       = {{Kablo, Emiram and Kleber, Melina and Arias Cabarcos, Patricia}},
  booktitle    = {{34th USENIX Security Symposium (USENIX Security 25)}},
  pages        = {{1531–1548}},
  title        = {{{PrivaCI in VR: Exploring Perceptions and Acceptability of Data Sharing in Virtual Reality Through Contextual Integrity}}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}

@inproceedings{54291,
  author       = {{Kablo, Emiram and Kader, Katharina and Arias Cabarcos, Patricia}},
  booktitle    = {{Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems}},
  publisher    = {{ACM}},
  title        = {{{"I'm actually going to go and change these passwords": Analyzing the Usability of Credential Audit Interfaces in Password Managers}}},
  doi          = {{10.1145/3613905.3650889}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}

@inproceedings{49373,
  author       = {{Kablo, Emiram and Arias Cabarcos, Patricia}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings of the 2023 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security}},
  publisher    = {{ACM}},
  title        = {{{Privacy in the Age of Neurotechnology: Investigating Public Attitudes towards Brain Data Collection and Use}}},
  doi          = {{10.1145/3576915.3623164}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}

@article{28463,
  author       = {{Hanisch, Simon and Arias Cabarcos, Patricia and Parra-Arnau, Javier and Strufe, Thorsten}},
  journal      = {{CoRR}},
  title        = {{{Privacy-Protecting Techniques for Behavioral Data: A Survey}}},
  volume       = {{abs/2109.04120}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}

@inproceedings{28462,
  author       = {{Arias Cabarcos, Patricia and Habrich, Thilo and Becker, Karen and Becker, Christian and Strufe, Thorsten}},
  booktitle    = {{30th {USENIX} Security Symposium, {USENIX} Security 2021, August 11-13, 2021}},
  editor       = {{Bailey, Michael and Greenstadt, Rachel}},
  pages        = {{55--72}},
  publisher    = {{{USENIX} Association}},
  title        = {{{Inexpensive Brainwave Authentication: New Techniques and Insights on User Acceptance}}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}