Outcome

Narrative

It’s very easy to think that your data is not valuable. It is also easy to use someone else’s data against them. If it is a stranger trying to access your data, your guard would be up – you would try to make sure most strangers can’t access it, use it, or share it. However, we tend to let our guard down with our loved ones because we think they will have our best interests at heart.

We explored the case where this is not true – where a loved one is manipulating your data and using it to control you, and how it is harder to resist this kind of manipulation than if a stranger was the perpetrator.

We are exploring the case of a relationship which becomes abusive but which is not evident to people outside the relationship. It takes place in a subtle manner, so that the abused partner finds it hard to resist the slow changes.

We realized that there could be many objects which threaten the safety of members in a relationship, and chose to use a symbolic one – the wedding ring. This ring tracks the location and heartbeat of the wearer, and allows the abusive partner to shock the abused partner.

Recommendations

People should know when their data is being shared have the option to stop it from being shared.

People should be heavily cautioned about sharing their data as it can become dangerous for them.

The problem highlighted goes deeper than just the IoT device – it is the nature and intentions of a person using it that escalate the situation into danger. To tackle this, the solution must also go deeper than the IoT device – counselling and providing help for situations which might escalate or have already escalated into dangerous ones.