ABSTRACT
Effectively regulating the domestic Internet of Things (IoT) requires a turn to technology design. However, the role of designers as regulators still needs to be situated. By drawing on a specific domain of technology design, human–computer interaction (HCI), we unpack what an HCI-led approach can offer IT law. By reframing the three prominent design concepts of provenance, affordances and trajectories, we offer new perspectives on the regulatory challenges of the domestic IoT. Our HCI concepts orientate us towards the social context of technology. We argue that novel regulatory strategies can emerge through a better understanding of the relationships and interactions between designers, end users and technology. Accordingly, closer future alignment of IT law and HCI approaches is necessary for effective regulation of emerging technologies.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 Regulation is ‘sustained and focused control exercised by a public agency, on the basis of a legislative mandate over activities that are generally regarded as desirable to society' (Selznick Citation1985, 363).
2 ‘Regulation is the sustained and focused attempt to alter the behaviour of others to standards or goals with the intention of producing a broadly identified outcome or outcomes, which may involve mechanisms of standard setting, information gathering and behaviour-modification' (Black Citation2002, 26).
3 Recital-65.
4 Recital-156.
5 Recital-158.
6 Update of Norman (Citation1988).
7 Access control systems, for example, intruder sensors, cameras.
8 p62; Attitudes for in-home systems sensing and inferring through video, audio, electricity use.
9 Article 9(1) GDPR.