Reconfigure: feminist action research in cybersecurity

Report

This report presents a 10-month pilot study applying “action research” methods to cybersecurity. The Reconfigure Network ran a series of community workshops in which we invited participants to define their own cybersecurity threats, implement changes to protect themselves, and reflect on the role cybersecurity plays in their lives. Our findings can be summarised in five key points: 1. Feelings of avoidance, a lack of awareness, and jargony technical language prevent people from engaging with cybersecurity. Our workshops created supportive spaces where participants felt better equipped to overcome these barriers. 2. Our participants demonstrated care and thoughtfulness not only in their own digital privacy practices, but also with respect to the security of their families and communities. This enthusiasm contradicts the stereotype of lazy, uninterested technology users in common cybersecurity narratives. 3. People’s digital practices are shaped by privilege and oppression. While advantages like wealth or education help people access knowledge about cybersecurity, experiences of abuse on the basis of gender identity, race, or sexuality both expose people to greater harm and leave them more motivated to take action. 4. Cybersecurity is more effective when it is communal: as our actions affect others (and vice versa), we cannot approach it alone. Setting time aside to discuss online threats and mitigations with members of a community makes it easier and less intimidating to take action. 5. Although such community action is effective, cybersecurity cannot be limited to individuals changing passwords or downloading VPNs. Structural change at the level of culture and legislation is crucial. Such change should realign the incentives of the companies that build digital infrastructures, and is therefore necessary to make the online world safer and more empowering.

Authors: Slupska, J; Duckworth, SD; Neff, GS

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Publisher: Oxford Internet Institute
• Place of publication: Oxford, UK
• Publication date: 2021-02-04
• Language: English
• Keywords: participatory research methods; feminist theory; action research; FFR; cybersecurity