ORCID

0000-0003-2622-5235

Keywords

privacy, live streaming, streamer, bystander

Abstract

Live streaming has gained global popularity, raising significant privacy concerns due to its performance-driven, real-time, on-camera, and public nature. Increasing reports highlight privacy violations in live streaming, including streamers facing harassment from malicious viewers and bystanders being inadvertently exposed to audiences. Despite these challenges, research on privacy in live streaming remains limited. This dissertation addresses this gap by examining users' privacy concerns and strategies in information disclosure and exploring design solutions to enhance privacy management on live streaming platforms.

To achieve these objectives, I conducted three qualitative studies: two interview studies (Study 1: Chapter 4 and Study 2: Chapter 5) and one co-design study (Study 3: Chapter 6). Study 1 investigates streamers’ privacy concerns and management strategies in live streaming. Findings reveal that streamers are particularly concerned about disclosures that may affect their audience appeal or disrupt personal boundaries with viewers. They employ both platform-supported and self-developed privacy strategies to mitigate these concerns. Study 2 examines how streamers perceive and manage bystanders’ privacy. Results indicate that while streamers acknowledge the importance of protecting bystanders, existing platform features do not adequately support seamless privacy management or bystander involvement in privacy decisions. Study 3 employs a co-design approach, where streamers contribute to the design of privacy-preserving features for streamers, while both streamers and bystanders collaborate on the design of privacy-preserving features for bystanders. The study also provides design principles to enhance privacy protections for both groups.

By offering empirical insights and design guidelines, this dissertation contributes to the understanding of privacy challenges in live streaming and informs the development of privacy-enhancing mechanisms for streaming platforms.

Completion Date

2025

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

Li, Yao; Hughes, Charlie; Mondesire, Sean; LaViola, Joseph; Lin, Xialing

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Engineering and Computer Science

Department

School of Modeling, Simulation and Training

Identifier

DP0029417

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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