Topical collection on Privacy-Friendly and Trustworthy Technology for Society in Digital Society

Nordic Center for Internet and Society co-director Christoph Lutz, together Anton Fedosov (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland), Aurelia Tamò-Larrieux (University of Lausanne), Eduard Fosch-Villaronga (Leiden University) and Anto Čartolovni (Catholic University of Croatia) recently completed their topical collection on "Privacy-Friendly and Trustworthy Technology for Society", published in the Springer journal Digital Society.

The topical collection features six articles that were published on a rolling basis, exploring themes such as privacy-by-design, trust in artificial intelligence, and balancing privacy with technological innovation in light of regulations such as the GDPR and the AI Act:

1. “From Privacy-Enhancing to Health Data Utilisation” by Zhicheng He (2023) highlights the potential of anonymization and pseudonymization in reconciling privacy and data-sharing needs in healthcare systems, particularly focusing on the European Health Data Space (EHDS) and related legislation.
2. “Thermal Imaging in Robotics as a Privacy-Enhancing or Privacy-Invasive Measure? Misconceptions of Privacy when Using Thermal Cameras in Robots” by Naomi Lintvedt (2023) examines the privacy implications of thermal imaging in human-robot interaction. It challenges the assumption that thermal imaging is more privacy-preserving than RGB cameras, as it can still reveal sensitive data like body heat patterns, which qualify as personal data.
3. “Debiasing Strategies for Conversational AI: Improving Privacy and Security Decision-Making” by Anna Leschanowsky, Birgit Popp, and Nils Peters (2023) explores methods to reduce biases in conversational AI to enhance decision-making regarding privacy and security. It highlights the importance of accessible privacy policies and examines how debiasing strategies impact user perceptions and choices.
4. “A Concept of Balance of Interest in the Context of Active Assisted Living” by Kuźmicz (2023) outlines “balance of interest” with four key dimensions: equilibrium, avoidance of extremes, ideal proportion, and compromise. He critiques balance’s vague definition and offers a framework to address ethical and social challenges in designing AAL systems for older adults, ensuring alignment with human rights and social equity.
5. “Probing for Privacy: A Digital Design Method to Support Reflection of Situated Geoprivacy and Trust” by Jessica Megarry, Peta Mitchell, Markus Rittenbruch, Yu Kao, Bryce Christensen, and Marcus Foth (2023) examines geoprivacy and how digital cultural probes can help understand users' decision-making processes regarding location data sharing. Utilizing contextual integrity as a framework, the research explores the relationship between geoprivacy and trust.
6. “Ethical Guidelines for the Application of Generative AI in German Journalism” by Lennart Hofeditz, Anna-Katharina Jung, Milad Mirbabaie, and Stefan Stieglitz (2025) examine the consequences and effects of this technology in journalism practice and media production processes in Germany. They analyze genAI’s role in automating content generation and discuss its ethical implications for future use in content creation, curation, and dissemination
   
   The topical collection is completed by the editorial: 
7.  "Privacy-Friendly and Trustworthy Technology for Society" by Anton Fedosov, Aurelia Tamò-Larrieux, Christoph Lutz, Eduard Fosch-Villaronga and Anto Čartolovni (2025) discusses the importance of trust and privacy in the context of emerging technologies and AAL, provides an overview of the six articles featured in the topical collection, and presents potentials for future research in the area.