Privacy by Design Principles in Design of New Generation Cognitive Assistive Technologies

Today, simple analogue assistive technologies are transformed into complex and sophisticated sensor networks. This raises many new privacy issues that need to be considered. In this paper, we investigate how this new generation of assistive technology incorporates Privacy by Design (PbD) principles. The research is conducted as a case study where we use PbD principles as an analytical lens to investigate the design of the new generation of digitalized assistive technology as well as the users’ privacy preferences that arise in use of this technology in real homes. Based on the findings from the case study, we present guidelines for building in privacy in new generations of assistive technologies and in this way protect the privacy of the people using these technologies.