Drone-based Privacy Interfaces: Opportunities and Challenges

Providing users with awareness and control about privacy-sensitive information flows is a major challenge in Internet of Things scenarios, because of constrained input and output capabilities of the involved sensors and devices. We propose the use of autonomous personal drones, specifically nanocopters, as device-independent drone-based privacy interfaces. Nanocopters have the potential to indicate privacy risks, visualize information flows, and provide tangible privacy controls within a smart environment without being tethered to specific IoT devices. We provide an overview of recent advancements in human-drone interaction and describe our vision of leveraging personal drones as privacy indicators and controls, including a discussion of opportunities and associated challenges.