Enabling valid informed consent for location tracking through privacy awareness of users: A process theory

In this paper, the authors examine the issue of valid informed consent for location tracking by mobile phone users. They first analyse the legal premises for informed consent that represent requirements for mobile application developers and providers who request consent. However, the ones who actually give consent are the mobile users and therefore their understanding of consent is of paramount importance. Extensive literature is missing on empirical studies examining the topic from the users' perception perspective. For that reason, the authors conduct an empirical investigation with mobile users and present their findings in the form of a process theory. The process theory reveals how users' valid informed consent for location tracking can be obtained, starting from enhancing reading the privacy policy to stimulating privacy awareness and enabling informed consent. The paper includes a discussion section in which the authors describe the implications of the process theory for the different stakeholders and offer recommendations deriving from the empirical findings. The contribution is addressed to software and mobile application developers and providers, technology regulation researchers and policy makers, as well as security and privacy researchers.