  The Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as smart speakers can collect
sensitive user data, necessitating the need for users to manage their privacy
preferences. However, configuring these preferences presents users with
multiple challenges. Existing privacy controls often lack transparency, are
hard to understand, and do not provide meaningful choices. On top of that,
users struggle to locate privacy settings due to multiple menus or confusing
labeling, which discourages them from using these controls. We introduce
PriviFy (Privacy Simplify-er), a novel and user-friendly tangible interface
that can simplify the configuration of smart devices privacy settings. PriviFy
is designed to propose an enhancement to existing hardware by integrating
additional features that improve privacy management. We envision that positive
feedback and user experiences from our study will inspire consumer product
developers and smart device manufacturers to incorporate the useful design
elements we have identified. Using fidelity prototyping, we iteratively
designed PriviFy prototype with 20 participants to include interactive features
such as knobs, buttons, lights, and notifications that allow users to configure
their data privacy preferences and receive confirmation of their choices. We
further evaluated PriviFy high-fidelity prototype with 20 more participants.
Our results show that PriviFy helps simplify the complexity of privacy
preferences configuration with a significant usability score at p < .05 (P =
0.000000017, t = -8.8639). PriviFy successfully met users privacy needs and
enabled them to regain control over their data. We conclude by recommending the
importance of designing specific privacy configuration options.
