With the advent of the era of technology and big data, personal privacy and information leakage have become more and more serious, and the entire process is opaque.

Data humidifier is a smart device that helps users build awareness of their privacy usage. It uses different scents to notify users when there are privacy security concerns while using the internet such as secret data collection. With this smart humidifier, user is able to be notified of privacy usage according to the corresponding scent emitted.

Research

Secondary Research

I often get annoyed by harassment from unknown sources, and I don't even know when my personal information was leaked out. No one told me that this would happen. All this opaqueness made me feel insecure.

Allow “APP” to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites?

This is a vague question. I don’t know which of my data will be tracked, and I don’t know what clauses I will miss in the long terms of use. There is no doubt that this uncertainty has increased my distrust and insecurities in use.

Through research, I discovered the importance of the controllability of privacy. Many Apps obscure the user’s right to know, which undoubtedly make user’s information leak without knowing it and make the user experience worse. Privacy becomes a big lie.

Analogy

How can I use scents to make users be aware of their private data being collected, tracked, and shared, let them have the sense of controllability and right to know?

Ideation

Process Flow

Based on my findings in research and analogy, I drew the sketching of my original ideas. Each type of data and permissions that apps use to track users represents a type of scents respectively. I am trying to make the data transmission process smellable and customizable.
- Users can smell the notification to keep the disturbance level to the minimum.
- Very personal, can be customized by users.
- As a media that carry information, scents can make people know unconsciously.

Prototype

Physical Module Writing

Website Design

To demonstrate the idea of privacy leakage and humidifier notification, I build a website for the house rental. The website's functions simulate the problem of current internet security. It steals information and user privacy secretly. According to my earlier research, I categorize the information into four types.

When users browse the website, different actions will give the website different access to their privacy.

Connect Together

Design

Users can follow the installation instruction of the humidifier to laser cut or 3D print the product with their desired color and materials. Everything can be customized and open sourced.

Future Development

I want to make this product portable, It not only senses user’s onlline data or privacy leakage, but also notify users when their information is being collected. Some existing technologies have explored the possibility of making privacy stealing transparent, such as the Flares function of Xiaomi Technology. It categorizes and automatically denies the permissions that the background app tries to obtain to protect users.

A lot of the collected data will be used elsewhere, which often makes people feel that there is no privacy in big data era. Data processing will become a necessity, but the transparency of the process is also very necessary. Users should have the right to know and control. There should be prompts when the user's information is collected, instead of making the user feel insecure about their privacy being stolen.