Voice assistants have become embedded in people’s private spaces and domestic lives where they gather enormous amounts of personal information which is why they evoke serious privacy concerns. The paper reports the findings from a mixed-method study with 65 digital natives, their attitudes to privacy and actual and intended behaviour in privacy-sensitive situations and contexts. It also presents their recommendations to governments or organisations with regard to protecting their data. The results show that the majority are concerned about privacy but are willing to disclose personal data if the benefits outweigh the risks. The prevailing attitude is one characterised by uncertainty about what happens with their data, powerlessness about controlling their use, mistrust in big tech companies and uneasiness about the lack of transparency. Few take steps to self-manage their privacy, but rely on the government to take measures at the political and regulatory level. The respondents, however, show scant awareness of existing or planned legislation such as the GDPR and the Digital Services Act, respectively. A few participants are anxious to defend the analogue world and limit digitalization in general which in their opinion only opens the gate to surveillance and misuse.

The paper describes a mobile solution for the early recognition and management of stress based on continuous monitoring of heart rate variability (HRV) and contextual data (activity, location, etc.). A central contribution is the automatic calibration of measured HRV values to perceived stress levels during an initial learning phase where the user provides feedback when prompted by the system. This is crucial as HRV varies greatly among people. A data mining component identifies recurrent stress situations so that people can develop appropriate stress avoidance and coping strategies. A biofeedback component based on breathing exercises helps users relax. The solution is being tested by healthy volunteers before conducting a clinical study with patients after alcohol detoxification.

The lack of user acceptance of e-participation initiatives has been attributed to several factors, among them lack of motivation, poor transparency of process and lack of traceability of contributions. These deficits cannot be overcome by compliance with usability and accessibility guidelines. To increase user participation it is suggested to align such initiatives with the requirements of civil society groups who are more successful in mobilising public engagement and less with government requests. To enable and empower such groups to set up and maintain e-participation initiatives, a functional navigator for guiding users in configuring a platform as well as process support components are required. The latter focus on the transitions between different phases. The paper outlines how such an approach can be implemented to achieve a transparent circular flow of information and opinion between citizens and policy-makers in a collaborative environment which supports formal and informal political actors to work in partnership.