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research

I study how people experience privacy, security, and trust in everyday technology.

✦ selected publications

2023 IEEE · PST
Copenhagen, DK

Security & Privacy Perceptions of Mental Health Chatbots

Paulina Chametka, Sana Maqsood, Sonia Chiasson

We compare the information disclosure practices and security and privacy concerns of adopters and non-adopters of mental health chatbots. We conducted a survey with 180 participants (30 adopters, 150 non-adopters), collecting data about what information they would hypothetically disclose to mental health chatbots, and concerns they had related to chatbots. We found that compared to non-adopters, adopters were more trusting of chatbots, were willing to reveal more information, perceived security and privacy risks to be less likely, and took fewer precautions.

2020 ACM · CHI
Honolulu, HI

The Influence of Decaying the Representation of Older Social Media Content on Simulated Hiring Decisions

Reham Mohamed, Paulina Chametka, Sonia Chiasson

Decaying representations gradually make social media content less visible to readers over time, which can help users disassociate from past online activities. We explore whether shrinking, one decaying representation, influences managers' assessments and simulated hiring decisions of job candidates, compared to seeing a full profile or an empty profile with no posts. Our 3 x 2 between-subjects crowdsourced survey (N = 360 US managers) shows that shrunk or empty profiles led to more positive decisions than profiles in their original full format.

2019 USENIX · SOUPS
poster

Security Implications of Online Accessibility Obstacles for Users with Visual Impairments

Daniela Napoli, Khadija Baig, Paulina Chametka, Sonia Chiasson

Like most, people with visual impairments are increasingly reliant on the Internet. Yet, existing security mechanisms are inadequate to enable these users to protect their online security and privacy. We conducted a task-based user study with 14 participants with visual impairments, observing their security habits and concerns when navigating popular transactional websites and a phishing site. We found severe usability issues that led users to take risks or forced them to choose between accessibility or security.