Privacy implications of presence sharing in mobile messaging applications

Andreas Buchenscheit; Bastian Könings; Andreas Neubert; Florian Schaub; Matthias Schneider; Frank Kargl

doi:10.1145/2677972.2677980

Privacy implications of presence sharing in mobile messaging applications

Andreas Buchenscheit, Bastian Könings, Andreas Neubert, Florian Schaub, Matthias Schneider, Frank Kargl

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

3 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Mobile messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, provide a free alternative for mobile texting on smartphones. Mobile messengers typically also share presence information about users to indicate when a user is online. We investigated the privacy implications of such presence updates, using WhatsApp as an example. We conducted a user study with two independent groups (19 participants in total), in which we collected and analyzed their presence information over four weeks of regular WhatsApp use and conducted follow-up interviews. Our results show that presence information alone is sufficient to accurately identify, for example, daily routines, deviations, times of inappropriate mobile messaging, or conversation partners. We discuss resulting privacy implications of presence information and potential solutions to mitigate these issues.

Original language	Undefined
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (IEEE MUM 2014)
Place of Publication	New York
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	20-29
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Print)	978-1-4503-3304-7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/2677972.2677980
Publication status	Published - Nov 2014
Event	13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, IEEE MUM 2014 - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Duration: 25 Nov 2014 → 28 Nov 2014

Publication series

Name
Publisher	ACM

Conference

Conference	13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, IEEE MUM 2014
Period	25/11/14 → 28/11/14
Other	November 25-28, 2014

Keywords

EWI-25520
METIS-309788
IR-93355
SCS-Cybersecurity

Access to Document

10.1145/2677972.2677980

http://eprints.eemcs.utwente.nl/secure2/25520/01/2014-11-mum.pdf

Cite this

@inproceedings{a7383c50f2d14fbdb798214596420f03,

title = "Privacy implications of presence sharing in mobile messaging applications",

abstract = "Mobile messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, provide a free alternative for mobile texting on smartphones. Mobile messengers typically also share presence information about users to indicate when a user is online. We investigated the privacy implications of such presence updates, using WhatsApp as an example. We conducted a user study with two independent groups (19 participants in total), in which we collected and analyzed their presence information over four weeks of regular WhatsApp use and conducted follow-up interviews. Our results show that presence information alone is sufficient to accurately identify, for example, daily routines, deviations, times of inappropriate mobile messaging, or conversation partners. We discuss resulting privacy implications of presence information and potential solutions to mitigate these issues.",

keywords = "EWI-25520, METIS-309788, IR-93355, SCS-Cybersecurity",

author = "Andreas Buchenscheit and Bastian K{\"o}nings and Andreas Neubert and Florian Schaub and Matthias Schneider and Frank Kargl",

note = "eemcs-eprint-25520 ; 13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, IEEE MUM 2014 ; Conference date: 25-11-2014 Through 28-11-2014",

year = "2014",

month = nov,

doi = "10.1145/2677972.2677980",

language = "Undefined",

isbn = "978-1-4503-3304-7",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

pages = "20--29",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (IEEE MUM 2014)",

}

Buchenscheit, A, Könings, B, Neubert, A, Schaub, F, Schneider, M & Kargl, F 2014, Privacy implications of presence sharing in mobile messaging applications. in Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (IEEE MUM 2014). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, pp. 20-29, 13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, IEEE MUM 2014, 25/11/14. https://doi.org/10.1145/2677972.2677980

Privacy implications of presence sharing in mobile messaging applications. / Buchenscheit, Andreas; Könings, Bastian; Neubert, Andreas et al.
Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (IEEE MUM 2014). New York: Association for Computing Machinery, 2014. p. 20-29.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

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T1 - Privacy implications of presence sharing in mobile messaging applications

AU - Buchenscheit, Andreas

AU - Könings, Bastian

AU - Neubert, Andreas

AU - Schaub, Florian

AU - Schneider, Matthias

AU - Kargl, Frank

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PY - 2014/11

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N2 - Mobile messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, provide a free alternative for mobile texting on smartphones. Mobile messengers typically also share presence information about users to indicate when a user is online. We investigated the privacy implications of such presence updates, using WhatsApp as an example. We conducted a user study with two independent groups (19 participants in total), in which we collected and analyzed their presence information over four weeks of regular WhatsApp use and conducted follow-up interviews. Our results show that presence information alone is sufficient to accurately identify, for example, daily routines, deviations, times of inappropriate mobile messaging, or conversation partners. We discuss resulting privacy implications of presence information and potential solutions to mitigate these issues.

AB - Mobile messaging applications, such as WhatsApp, provide a free alternative for mobile texting on smartphones. Mobile messengers typically also share presence information about users to indicate when a user is online. We investigated the privacy implications of such presence updates, using WhatsApp as an example. We conducted a user study with two independent groups (19 participants in total), in which we collected and analyzed their presence information over four weeks of regular WhatsApp use and conducted follow-up interviews. Our results show that presence information alone is sufficient to accurately identify, for example, daily routines, deviations, times of inappropriate mobile messaging, or conversation partners. We discuss resulting privacy implications of presence information and potential solutions to mitigate these issues.

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