Exploring the Privacy and Security Challenges Faced by Migrant Domestic Workers in Chinese Smart Homes

2025-04-02

AI Summary

This study identifies structural privacy and security risks faced by migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in multi-user smart home environments in China, where implicit employer surveillance, power asymmetries, and the entanglement of Confucian norms, collectivism, and surveillance normalization exacerbate vulnerability. Drawing on 26 in-depth interviews with MDWs and 5 with labor agency staff, and adopting a socio-technical lens, the research uncovers three interrelated issues: (1) covert surveillance practices, (2) absence of meaningful informed consent mechanisms, and (3) nonfunctional redress pathways. It is the first to systematically demonstrate how cultural norms are embedded in smart home technologies and actively reproduce socio-technical inequality. The study contributes a culturally grounded governance framework—including a privacy-capacity-building training model for labor agencies and a phased policy advocacy roadmap—offering both theoretical insights into digital labor rights and actionable interventions for equitable smart home governance.

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Privacy & Security
• Computer Vision: Bias, Fairness & Privacy
• Natural Language Processing: Ethics — Bias, Fairness, Transparency & Privacy

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• Responsible Web: Social and technical mechanisms of refusal for web technologies and applications

Abstract

The growing use of smart home devices poses considerable privacy and security challenges, especially for individuals like migrant domestic workers (MDWs) who may be surveilled by their employers. This paper explores the privacy and security challenges experienced by MDWs in multi-user smart homes through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 26 MDWs and 5 staff members of agencies that recruit and/or train domestic workers in China. Our findings reveal that the relationships between MDWs, their employers, and agencies are characterized by significant power imbalances, influenced by Chinese cultural and social factors (such as Confucianism and collectivism), as well as legal ones. Furthermore, the widespread and normalized use of surveillance technologies in China, particularly in public spaces, exacerbates these power imbalances, reinforcing a sense of constant monitoring and control. Drawing on our findings, we provide recommendations to domestic worker agencies and policymakers to address the privacy and security challenges facing MDWs in Chinese smart homes.

Problem

• Privacy and security challenges for migrant domestic workers in smart homes
• Power imbalances influenced by cultural, social, and legal factors
• Surveillance technologies exacerbating monitoring and control issues

Innovation

• Semi-structured interviews with MDWs and agencies
• Analyzes power imbalances in smart home contexts
• Recommends policy changes for MDW privacy