User Analysis
Our users are regular people, keenly interested in privacy but not necessarily knowledgeable about the technical details of cryptography. They want to discuss potentially sensitive or incriminating topics without being tracked.
They could be political activists in an environment where the government doesn't support their viewpoints. They could be children wanting to discuss something without their parents seeing it. They could be researchers looking for a way to collect secure, anonymous data from others. Or they could be employees of an enterprise working on a sensitive project and don't want technical details to be divulged to outside sources.
Characteristics
- Concerned with Privacy
- Unconcerned with Technical Details
- Concerned about Personal Safety
Task Analysis
General Actions
Task |
Why |
Frequency |
Effort |
Pitfalls |
Others Involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Authenticate Pseudonyms |
To ensure the identity (or psudo-identity) of the intended recipient |
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Find Public Conversations |
To discuss a topic |
semi-often |
medium |
potentially lots of information |
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Erase evidence of communication |
Break contact or association |
rarely |
easy |
unsafe (can't undo) |
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Conversation Types
Task |
Why |
Frequency |
Effort |
Pitfalls |
Others Involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Have a Group Conversation |
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Have a Public Conversation |
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Have a Private Conversation |
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Conversation Actions
Task |
Why |
Frequency |
Effort |
Pitfalls |
Others Involved |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Join |
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Leave |
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Send |
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Receive |
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Log |
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- Have a secure and anonymous group chat (private to the group).
- Join/leave the group chat.
- Send/receive messages.
- Log the group chat.
- Have a public and anonymous conversation (readable by all).
- Join/leave the conversation.
- Send/receive messages.
- Log the conversation.
- Have a direct, private, and anonymous and secure conversations.
- Send/receive messages.
- Log the conversation.
- Authenticate pseudonyms.
- Find public conversation topics.
- Erase evidence of communication.
Questions
- Have you ever found the need to securely converse with another person?
- Have you ever censored what you were saying to someone because you were worried about privacy?
Interviews
Interview 1
We interviewed multiple users to learn more about how they might value our product.
The Road Warrior
This user works as a consultant and is constantly on the road. It is very important for him to be able to communicate with clients, co-workers, and to his family back at home, and he relies very much on his mobile devices to allow him to stay in touch and coordinate his life. In his line of work he frequently deals with sensitive corporate information. He ends up using two mobile devices -- a secure device dedicated to work, and a personal one for other purposes. He understands the need to keep client information secure but doesn't really understand all of the ways in which using an unsecure device can actually be potentially harmful to his firm and/or himself. He would love to be able to deal with both work and personal tasks from a single application.
Key Insights
- Aware of potential security threats but not sure exactly how to protect himself
- Willing to deal with multiple devices in order to preserve security but finds it very inconvenient
Interview 2
The subject stated that he would use such a system for private conversations with his girlfriend. At first didn't feel that he would ever need true anonymity but felt that a simple encrypted messaging system could be useful. Apon further thought the subject noted that anonymity would be useful when discussing sensitive subjects about which he held a strong, potentially politically incorrect, opinion.
In order to go through the hassle of installing the app, the subject indicated that he would need a significant reason. The app would have to inspire trust.