HCC: Medium: Sociotechnical Systems to Combat Nonconsensual Intimate Media

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This research will examine the design of sociotechnical systems that offer user controls for combating non-consensual intimate media (NCIM) and that deter perpetrators from sharing it. NCIM refers to the sharing of another person's intimate, sexual content without their consent, violating a person's right to privacy and autonomy. NCIM can cause severe harm to its victims, most of whom are women. Online social media have enabled widespread collection and sharing of NCIM, and recent computational advancements like live-streaming, deep fakes, and recognition technologies amplify the potential for NCIM to fester and spread. The law is evolving to recognize NCIM, but access to legal recourse can be expensive and slow. Similarly, victims can appeal directly to platforms to take down their content, but such appeals are labor-intensive, traumatic, and often unsuccessful. This work will provide technology companies and policy makers with empirically-evaluated designs for combatting NCIM. It will develop design principles for a set of systems that support individual agency and autonomy, while recognizing the societal inequities that create the conditions for NCIM to thrive. The research has six main objectives: (1) understand the needs of victims using design workshops; (2) examine norms about appropriate content sharing practices via online experiments; (3) design systems to support victims tracking and requesting takedowns of non-consensual content; (4) design systems to communicate content sharing preferences; (5) translate results for the broader public through sociotechnical guidelines for combatting NCIM; (6) engage in community outreach to combat abuse within the field of computing. This project will also explore novel technical questions, such as whether it is possible to design interfaces for the expression of content sharing preferences, or whether user-selected digital watermarks can increase control over personal content. It will examine how principles like consent, data rights, data privacy, and community norms can be designed into sociotechnical systems. For example, it will explore how legal principles can be integrated with computation, such as automating documentation of evidence of NCIM or user interface designs for tracking takedown requests. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.