Don’t record my private pARts: understanding the role of sensitive contexts and privacy perceptions in influencing attitudes towards everyday augmented reality sensor usage

Everyday Augmented Reality (AR) headsets come with an array of sensing capabilities. Users wearing these headsets for extended periods may prefer specific sensors to remain inactive in some contexts for privacy and sensitivity reasons. Currently, the contexts in which users wish to limit sensor data collection are unclear. To explore this, we conducted a survey (N=100), collecting 552 scenarios to understand which situations users wish to restrict or completely block data collection by specific sensors or combinations on their AR headset. Our results show the sensitive contexts can be classified into seven categories: 1) presence of confidential information; 2) risk of data quantification; 3) expectation of solitude; 4) rules prohibiting data collection; 5) modesty and nudity; 6) home environments; and 7) outdoor public locations. Our results provide insights into privacy-invasive contexts when people want to limit and restrict their AR sensors, building towards automating permission configurations during the prolonged use of everyday AR headsets.