Chapter 12
Privacy-Oriented Analysis of Ubiquitous
Computing Systems: A 5-D Approach
Agusti Solanas, Edgar Batista, Fran Casino, Achilleas Papageorgiou,
and Constantinos Patsakis
Abstract Ubiquitous computing systems are commonplace. They have opened the
door to great benefits for society as a whole. However, they have to be used with
care, otherwise they can cause serious risks for their users. In this chapter, we
analyze the privacy risks of ubiquitous computing systems from a new individualcentred perspective based on five privacy dimensions, namely identity, location,
footprint, query and intelligence. We describe each dimension and provide an
introductory view of the main privacy risks of these systems. Also, we discuss some
of the challenges that derive from new trends in the field.
12.1 Introduction
The widespread deployment of ubiquitous computing systems (UCS) is a commonplace reality. Despite their youth, the adoption of ICT together with the
generalization of the Internet [294] have enabled the early consolidation of UCS
in our daily lives. Nowadays, it is not surprising to find people using multiple
computing devices: from traditional computers or laptops, to smart phones or
even trendy smart watches or fitness trackers equipped with plenty of built-in
sensors and powerful computing capabilities. In addition, to make things even more
complex, interactions do not take place between humans and machines only, but
among machines too. Those machine-to-machine interactions are magnified with
the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT), which implies a strengthening of
the overall sensing capabilities of the machines ecosystem which allows further
A. Solanas
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain
E. Batista
SIMPPLE, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain
F. Casino · A. Papageorgiou · C. Patsakis ()
University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece
e-mail: kpatsak@unipi.gr
© The Author(s) 2021
G. Avoine, J. Hernandez-Castro (eds.), Security of Ubiquitous Computing Systems,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10591-4_12
201
Privacy-Oriented Analysis of Ubiquitous
Computing Systems: A 5-D Approach
Agusti Solanas, Edgar Batista, Fran Casino, Achilleas Papageorgiou,
and Constantinos Patsakis
Abstract Ubiquitous computing systems are commonplace. They have opened the
door to great benefits for society as a whole. However, they have to be used with
care, otherwise they can cause serious risks for their users. In this chapter, we
analyze the privacy risks of ubiquitous computing systems from a new individualcentred perspective based on five privacy dimensions, namely identity, location,
footprint, query and intelligence. We describe each dimension and provide an
introductory view of the main privacy risks of these systems. Also, we discuss some
of the challenges that derive from new trends in the field.
12.1 Introduction
The widespread deployment of ubiquitous computing systems (UCS) is a commonplace reality. Despite their youth, the adoption of ICT together with the
generalization of the Internet [294] have enabled the early consolidation of UCS
in our daily lives. Nowadays, it is not surprising to find people using multiple
computing devices: from traditional computers or laptops, to smart phones or
even trendy smart watches or fitness trackers equipped with plenty of built-in
sensors and powerful computing capabilities. In addition, to make things even more
complex, interactions do not take place between humans and machines only, but
among machines too. Those machine-to-machine interactions are magnified with
the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT), which implies a strengthening of
the overall sensing capabilities of the machines ecosystem which allows further
A. Solanas
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain
E. Batista
SIMPPLE, Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain
F. Casino · A. Papageorgiou · C. Patsakis ()
University of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece
e-mail: kpatsak@unipi.gr
© The Author(s) 2021
G. Avoine, J. Hernandez-Castro (eds.), Security of Ubiquitous Computing Systems,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-10591-4_12
201