Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Department of Health and Exercise Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, United States.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024 Mar 7;12:e48986. doi: 10.2196/48986.
Contact tracing technology has been adopted in many countries to aid in identifying, evaluating, and handling individuals who have had contact with those infected with COVID-19. Singapore was among the countries that actively implemented the government-led contact tracing program known as TraceTogether. Despite the benefits the contact tracing program could provide to individuals and the community, privacy issues were a significant barrier to individuals' acceptance of the program.
Building on the privacy calculus model, this study investigates how the perceptions of the 2 key groups (ie, government and community members) involved in the digital contact tracing factor into individuals' privacy calculus of digital contact tracing.
Using a mixed method approach, we conducted (1) a 2-wave survey (n=674) and (2) in-depth interviews (n=12) with TraceTogether users in Singapore. Using structural equation modeling, this study investigated how trust in the government and the sense of community exhibited by individuals during the early stage of implementation (time 1) predicted privacy concerns, perceived benefits, and future use intentions, measured after the program was fully implemented (time 2). Expanding on the survey results, this study conducted one-on-one interviews to gain in-depth insights into the privacy considerations involved in digital contact tracing.
The results from the survey showed that trust in the government increased perceived benefits while decreasing privacy concerns regarding the use of TraceTogether. Furthermore, individuals who felt a connection to community members by participating in the program (ie, the sense of community) were more inclined to believe in its benefits. The sense of community also played a moderating role in the influence of government trust on perceived benefits. Follow-up in-depth interviews highlighted that having a sense of control over information and transparency in the government's data management were crucial factors in privacy considerations. The interviews also highlighted surveillance as the most prevalent aspect of privacy concerns regarding TraceTogether use. In addition, our findings revealed that trust in the government, particularly the perceived transparency of government actions, was most strongly associated with concerns regarding the secondary use of data.
Using a mixed method approach involving a 2-wave survey and in-depth interview data, we expanded our understanding of privacy decisions and the privacy calculus in the context of digital contact tracing. The opposite influences of privacy concerns and perceived benefit on use intention suggest that the privacy calculus in TraceTogether might be viewed as a rational process of weighing between privacy risks and use benefits to make an uptake decision. However, our study demonstrated that existing perceptions toward the provider and the government in the contact tracing context, as well as the perception of the community triggered by TraceTogether use, may bias user appraisals of privacy risks and the benefits of contact tracing.
接触者追踪技术已在许多国家采用，以帮助识别、评估和处理与 COVID-19 感染者有过接触的个人。新加坡是积极实施政府主导的接触者追踪计划的国家之一，该计划名为 TraceTogether。尽管接触者追踪计划可以为个人和社区带来好处，但隐私问题是个人接受该计划的一个重大障碍。
本研究以隐私计算模型为基础，探讨参与数字接触者追踪的 2 个关键群体（即政府和社区成员）的看法如何影响个人对数字接触者追踪的隐私计算。
本研究采用混合方法，对新加坡的 TraceTogether 用户进行了（1）2 波调查（n=674）和（2）深入访谈（n=12）。本研究使用结构方程模型，调查了实施早期（第 1 时间点）个人对政府的信任和社区意识如何预测隐私担忧、感知益处和计划实施后的未来使用意向（第 2 时间点）。基于调查结果，本研究进行了一对一访谈，以深入了解数字接触追踪中涉及的隐私考虑因素。
调查结果显示，对政府的信任增加了对使用 TraceTogether 的感知益处，同时降低了隐私担忧。此外，通过参与该计划与社区成员产生联系的个人（即社区意识）更倾向于相信其益处。社区意识在政府信任对感知益处的影响中也起到了调节作用。后续的深入访谈强调，对信息的控制感和政府数据管理的透明度是隐私考虑的关键因素。访谈还强调了 TraceTogether 使用中隐私关注的最普遍方面是监控。此外，我们的研究结果表明，对政府的信任，特别是对政府行动透明度的感知，与对数据二次使用的担忧密切相关。
本研究采用 2 波调查和深入访谈数据的混合方法，扩展了我们对数字接触追踪背景下隐私决策和隐私计算的理解。隐私担忧和感知益处对使用意向的相反影响表明，TraceTogether 中的隐私计算可能被视为权衡隐私风险和使用益处以做出使用决策的理性过程。然而，我们的研究表明，在接触者追踪背景下，现有对提供者和政府的看法，以及 TraceTogether 使用引发的对社区的看法，可能会影响用户对隐私风险和接触者追踪益处的评估。
