CY 2550, Foundations of Cybersecurity, Northeastern University (Prof.

Justin Wang’s class)

Wednesday 13 March 2024

Value Sensitive Design practice exercise: the example of Apple AirTags

Group Activity

Your individual goal: Thinking carefully about what “security” means to you, write an “action
proposal” for Apple’s AirTags from a stakeholder’s perspective.
Your group goal: Compare your individual “action proposals”. Discuss the likely societal effects
of AirTags, including their potential, and decide jointly on a recommendation to Apple.

Steps:
1. As a group, focusing on the AirTag, discuss the topic of STAKEHOLDERS.
• Who is affected by AirTags or their use? Consider those who might be typically
overlooked.
• Write the most likely stakeholders down.
• Once you’re satisfied with your list, circle the 4 most important (using whatever criteria
of “importance” you want!)

2.As a group, articulate the ethical values that are likely to be important to the stakeholders
that you identified. You can start with the values that are on the slide on the screen, but don’t
limit yourself to them!

For each of the ethical values that you’ve articulated, you need to be able to describe them in
terms of some kind of action or principle that people should follow.

For example, if “transparency” is an important ethical value to one of your stakeholders, then
you might describe that value this way: “People should be able to understand the systems that
they’re using.” (That still is somewhat unclear, but it provides a starting point for further
clarification and reflection.)

3.Each other member in the group should now pick:

• One stakeholder role
• One of the ethical values from your list that is likely to be important to that stakeholder

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4.Each person in the group should take 5 – 10 minutes to write a mini-review of the AirTag.
• Do your best to put yourself into your stakeholder’s shoes (as much as you can)
• Be specific about the AirTag’s features

5. Now, as a group, have a discussion in which you compare your mini-reviews. While
discussing the potential real-world consequences, think about how you might apply your mini-
review to future modifications to the AirTag.

• Who is most affected?

• What features are troublesome?
• What are the potential harms? Benefits?
• Were there recurring themes?

6.Now, as a group, choose one stakeholder, feature, harm, or theme that stood out in the
discussion. How might the AirTag be changed to prevent these problems? Consider both
technical and social changes.

7.You’ve considered a wide range of perspectives, contemplated potential risks, and explored
preventative design measures. Now it’s time to tell Apple what to do. Write down answers to
these questions.
1. Should there even be AirTags? Should they be discontinued?
2. If not, then what are the best ways (both technical and social) to make them better?