Critical Intimate Computing

CyFer: cybersecurity, privacy, bias, and trust in female-oriented technologies (FemTech) is a research project funded by PETRAS UK  (2021-2023). 

(July-September 2023) CyFer 360° is the interactive archive of an art-science exhibition that engaged a critical approach to intimate data and the everyday use of data-driven technologies such as period trackers and sex toys. The exhibition was multiplex and included a repository of intimate technologies used in research on data privacy and security, and a series of art commissions that inquired data protection and the many uses of intimate bodily data. This exhibition makes tangible through art the trouble of datafication and value extraction of sensitive data. 

CyFer strives to work across domains and engage in academic research, artistic exploration, public outreach, and collaborations with the industry. It aims to have a real-world impact by influencing privacy policy and data protection, while exploring thought-provoking methods and non-traditional expressions and venues for knowledge production.  

For detailed information about the project, research team, industry partners, and a full list of outputs including academic and popular science, please see (PI of CyFer) Maryam Mehrnezhad's account here . 

In October 2022, I moderated a panel titled "Conversations on Care" at the Nordic Human-Computer Interaction Conference (NordiCHI '22) in Aarhus, Denmark. 

In September 2023, Diana P. Moniz (Master's student at IST) presented "Intimate Data: Exploring Perceptions of Privacy and Privacy-Seeking Behaviors through the Story Completion Method" at the International Conference IFIP INTERACT 2023, York UK. See video presentation.

Authors: Diana P. Moniz, Maryam Mehrnezhad, Teresa Almeida 

View/Download the paper here. 

In October 2023, Maryam Mehrnezhad presented ""My sex-related data is more sensitive than my financial data and I want the same level of security and privacy": User Risk Perceptions and Protective Actions" at the 2023 European Symposium on Usable Security (EuroUSEC '23) in  Copenhagen, Denmark.

Authors: Maryam Mehrnezhad and Teresa Almeida

View/Download the paper here. 

In July 2023, I presented at CyberMi2 (Cybersecurity and Privacy for Minority and Minoritized People) invite-only event that took place on the 20th of June 2023 at RHUL UK. The focus was security and privacy (SP) and minority and minoritized users. This event was the first of the annual series organized by Maryam Mehrnezhad and celebrated the end of the CyFer project.

View the CyberMi2 agenda here.

In October 2022,  I presented "Bodies Like Yours: Bodies Like Yours: Enquiring Data Privacy in FemTech" at the Nordic Human-Computer Interaction Conference (NordiCHI '22) in Aarhus, Denmark. 

Authors: Teresa Almeida, Laura Shipp, Maryam Mehrnezhad,  and Ehsan Toreini

View/Download the paper here. 

In  September 2022,  Maryam Mehrnezhad presented "Vision: Too Little too Late? Do the Risks of FemTech already Outweigh the Benefits?" at the 2022 European Symposium on Usable Security (EuroUSEC '22) in Karlsruhe, Germany. 

Authors: Maryam Mehrnezhad, Laura Shipp, Teresa Almeida, and Ehsan Toreini. 

View/Download the paper here. 

In May 2021,  Maryam Mehrnezhad presented "Caring for Intimate Data in Fertility Technologies" at the ACM CHI: CHI '21 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. See video teaser.

Authors: Maryam Mehrnezhad and Teresa Almeida 

View/Download the paper here. 

This research received extensive press coverage and was invited to presented at Fertility Conference 2022, the 15th joint fertility meeting organised by the Association of Reproductive and Clinical Scientists (ARCS), the British Fertility Society (BFS) and the Society for Reproduction and Fertility (SRF).