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Open research questions in Privacy, Security, and Data Protection

302 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 3,180 Privacy, Security, and Data Protection papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • the need to consider both social and non-social aspects of privacy. the lack of discussion on the value of privacy beyond its social aspect. the importance of understanding the concept of privacy and its relation to identity.

    Beyond the Pendulum: The Best of Both Worlds in the Value of Privacy, A Reply to Becker · 2026 · DOI

  • The effectiveness of informed consent forms in protecting information privacy has been challenged. There is a lack of understanding of how different informed consent designs influence users' privacy protection behavior. The role of privacy cynicism in shaping users' privacy protection behavior is not well understood.

    Not all consent is equal: How design and cynicism shape users’ privacy decisions · 2026 · DOI

  • Findings suggest consumer education alone is insufficient; designs and policy should reduce cognitive burden and constrain coerced consent.

    Mobile App Runtime Permissions and the Privacy Paradox: Hot‐State Decisions, Digital Literacy, and Consumer Consent · 2026 · DOI

  • Although the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides a harmonised legal framework across Europe, relatively little is known about the characteristics of healthcare-related GDPR enforcement and how publicly reported enforcement activity varies between European jurisdictions.

    General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enforcement in european healthcare: a comparative analysis of publicly reported enforcement decisions, 2018–2023 · 2026 · DOI

  • Finally, we also discuss the limitations of this study and directions for future research.

    Privacy Relevance and Disclosure Intention in Mobile Apps: The Mediating and Moderating Roles of Privacy Calculus and Temporal Distance · 2025 · DOI

  • We describe and examine middleware as it exists in the world, demonstrating that even while middleware is a viable solution to some contemporary problems attendant to social media, there are still open questions about who middleware helps and who it harms.

    Improving Social Media with Middleware · 2024 · DOI

  • While the precise nature of the threat remains unknown, the evidence suggested multiple fraudulent surveys were submitted by a single or connected entities, who likely did not possess e-cigarettes.

    From Doubt to Confidence—Overcoming Fraudulent Submissions by Bots and Other Takers of a Web-Based Survey · 2024 · DOI

  • There is little empirical evidence about how surveillance affects citizens' expression of political views. The study aims to fill this gap by testing the proposition that awareness of being surveilled induces self-censorship.

    Digital Surveillance and Self-Censorship in Autocracies: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Kazakhstan · 2026 · DOI

  • While the study examines autocratic settings, the generalizability of findings to democratic societies where surveillance cues and political sensitivity operate differently remains unclear.

    Digital Surveillance and Self-Censorship in Autocracies: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Kazakhstan · 2026 · DOI

  • Dimensional misalignment between independent and dependent variables, - Underutilization of moderating variables, - Limited scope of PCM research

    Rethinking the Trade-Off: A Systematic Review of Current Research on the Privacy Calculus Model · 2026 · DOI

  • The PCM literature lacks a systematic review of existing findings on benefit and cost variables. The model's limitations have not been fully addressed, particularly regarding dimensional misalignment and underutilization of moderating variables.

    Rethinking the Trade-Off: A Systematic Review of Current Research on the Privacy Calculus Model · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research can extend the study by exploring the impact of policy changes on user behavior. Future research can also investigate the effectiveness of different consent interface designs in reducing friction and improving alignment.

    ConsentDiff at Scale: Longitudinal Audits of Web Privacy Policy Changes and UI Frictions · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of a balance between public verifiability and personal privacy in decentralized web applications. The need for a new approach to compliance workflows.

    Grant, Verify, Revoke: A User-Centric Pattern for Blockchain Compliance · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research can investigate the use of progressive disclosure and personalization mechanisms to adapt the level of detail to users' needs and momentary attention.

    Who Explains Privacy Policies to Me? Embodied and Textual LLM-Powered Privacy Assistants in Virtual Reality · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of transparency in VR privacy documentation creates a critical awareness gap. Users significantly underestimate the tracking permissions they grant and the granularity of inferred information.

    Who Explains Privacy Policies to Me? Embodied and Textual LLM-Powered Privacy Assistants in Virtual Reality · 2026 · DOI

  • The study identifies a gap in the existing literature regarding the impact of data privacy concerns on consumer trust in the Indian e-commerce sector. The increasing reliance on data collection and personalization has also intensified concerns related to data security, transparency, and ethical usage of consumer information.

    Data Privacy Concerns and Consumer Trust in E-commerce: A Case Study of Amazon India · 2026 · DOI

  • Further research on the impact of digital advertising on consumer autonomy and decision-making processes. The development of more effective regulatory frameworks to address the ethical challenges of targeted digital advertising.

    Digital Advertising Ethics - Safeguarding Consumer Autonomy in the Era of Targeted Persuasion · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of transparency in digital advertising, particularly in algorithmic decision-making processes. The need for a multi-level governance approach to address the ethical challenges of targeted digital advertising.

    Digital Advertising Ethics - Safeguarding Consumer Autonomy in the Era of Targeted Persuasion · 2026 · DOI

  • Prior studies had underexplored the non-statical nature of OPC and the user privacy status quo, overlooking that the coping responses could switch over time.

    Revisiting online privacy concern in predicting user coping behavior: systematic review, conceptual framework, and research agenda · 2026 · DOI

  • Limited information is available on the relationships between data privacy, security concerns, and behavioral intention to use mHealth apps in Saudi Arabia.

    Patients’ mHealth Apps Usage and Data Privacy, Security, and Confidentiality Concerns: Exploratory Study · 2026 · DOI

  • Security Awareness of End-Users of Mobile this contributes to the level of awareness concerning confidentiality. A higher score indicates a better awareness The question meets the research observation by asses how the patient perceives the confidentiality of his healthcare data as an important aspect.

    Patients’ mHealth Apps Usage and Data Privacy, Security, and Confidentiality Concerns: Exploratory Study · 2026 · DOI

  • Prior studies have not used a computer vision model to measure the salience of cookie banner elements. Existing datasets of cookie banner images have limitations, such as being captured from a single point of view and not being recent.

    Using Salient Object Detection to Identify Manipulative Cookie Banners That Circumvent GDPR · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of effective cybersecurity measures and data governance in the Thai government sector. The vulnerability of personal data, particularly sensitive identifiers like the Thai National Identification Number, to unauthorized access and misuse.

    Analysis of Personal Data Exposure in Thailand · 2026 · DOI

  • The study is limited to e-commerce users in Jalgaon. The sample size is 384 respondents.

    THE PRIVACY PARADOX IN DIGITAL RETAIL: EVALUATING CONSUMER TRUST AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS AI-DRIVEN DATA HARVESTING AMONG E-COMMERCE USERS IN JALGAON · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research can investigate the effectiveness of 'Privacy-by-Design' frameworks in mitigating the Privacy Paradox. Further studies can explore the implications of AI-driven data harvesting for consumer trust and attitudes in different contexts.

    THE PRIVACY PARADOX IN DIGITAL RETAIL: EVALUATING CONSUMER TRUST AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS AI-DRIVEN DATA HARVESTING AMONG E-COMMERCE USERS IN JALGAON · 2026 · DOI

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302 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 3,180 Privacy, Security, and Data Protection papers in our 4.5M-paper local library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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