A Journey Towards More Secure and Ethical Tech Products
In today's digital age, user data is a valuable commodity, which makes it tempting for tech companies to collect every possible piece of information about their users. However, this comes at a high cost to the privacy of modern tech consumers. As product creators, we want to challenge this norm by prioritizing user privacy in developing our new products. We understand that this requires technical and business compromises, but we believe it is worth pursuing better solutions for our users and ourselves. In this post, we will share our journey towards creating a more privacy-focused security camera.
Our Story
Our team is working on video recognition technology, and we are excited about its potential application as a security camera. However, as we researched the market, we found that privacy is a crucial concern, especially for AI-powered cameras. This makes sense because personal footage is highly sensitive data, and people are understandably worried about hackers accessing their private spaces. Additionally, video is a powerful data type that hackers have more incentive to spy on. Even cloud servers with encryption are not entirely safe. As technology becomes smarter, we become more concerned about our privacy, and it is never a straightforward matter to discuss.
In light of these concerns, we decided to take a bold step towards prioritizing user privacy. Here is what we did:
• Keep video processing offline: We do not upload streaming feeds to any server for AI processing. Note that recorded footage could be stored in a chosen cloud service upon user's preference.
• No user profile required: We do not collect any identification information or link to third-party apps. You don't need to create an account to use our app.
• No in-app tracking or analytics: We do not follow our users' activities. We don't use any tracking tools like Google Analytics.
Compromises We Have Considered
Privacy comes at various costs, which is why businesses find it challenging to prioritize it over convenience or other factors. One concern we had was whether not collecting any user data would compromise our product's quality. AI image and video recognition require ongoing data updates to improve accuracy, but we were not convinced that collecting users' footage was necessary. AI is increasingly open, and we can use public data to train our algorithms to achieve satisfactory quality. Collecting users' data for training purposes could be an excuse communicated via marketing efforts.
Another concern we had was whether not collecting usage data would lead to less convenient features. However, we realized that automatic personalization features are not the only way to create more convenience for users. We aim to provide a good user experience by designing our product with the user in mind and giving them control over how to use it.
We also considered whether not collecting any user data would affect our ability to analyze our user demographic information or understand how users interact with our app. While we won't have this data, we sustain a user community, and we listen actively to their feedback. Additionally, we are ourselves users of the product, so we design and develop exciting technology that we would want to use.
Finally, without tracking in-app activities, we might not be able to analyze the effectiveness of paid marketing campaigns. However, we believe that thoughtful communication and quality marketing come first, which will get attention and attract users who care about privacy.
Ultimately, we believe that what matters most is the value our product provides to users. If they find it valuable enough to use frequently, then we have accomplished our goal.
Join Us
We are still figuring things out, but we believe that prioritizing user privacy is important. If you agree with us, we would appreciate your support by:
• If you're in our market, become a beta user and give us feedback.
• Spread the word to others who care about the topic or might benefit from using our product.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we believe that prioritizing user privacy is crucial for creating technology that is both secure and ethical for our users. With the rising concerns about data breaches and hacking, it's critical to be intentional about the information we collect and how we use it. We hope to set an example for other tech companies by demonstrating that it's possible to create innovative products without compromising user privacy.
Mai
Lead product insights at AiCam
