Columbia Privacy Lab & Public Assistance Benefits - Incite at Columbia University

Though New York City and other municipal governments typically require a privacy policy acknowledgement to access public assistance programs, users rarely read them and the policies often contain vague, jargon-filled language that can obscure meaning.

This research seeks to investigate what privacy concerns exist when an individual applies for sustenance benefits. Privacy concerns can exist both in the design of the application (i.e., how questions are asked, what is a required question and why?) as well as the use of the information collected.