Glossary
Terms used in accessibility research and practice. Each entry has a definition, common aliases, and category tags.
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- Personally Identifiable Information(also: PII)
- Any data that can be used to identify a specific individual, such as name, email address, location, biometric data, or device identifiers. For assistive technology users, PII concerns are heightened because the data collected often reveals sensitive information about a person's…
- Personally Identifying Information(also: PII, Personal Data, Personally Identifiable Information)
- Any data that can be used to identify a specific individual, including names, addresses, photographs, financial details, and biometric data. In accessibility contexts, PII is a significant concern when disabled users contribute data for AI training, as they may inadvertently…
- Privacy
- The right and practical ability of a person to control the collection, use, and disclosure of information about themselves, their body, their activities, and their relationships. For accessibility, privacy intersects with disability in specific ways: assistive-technology usage…
- Privacy Alert(also: Privacy Notification, Privacy Warning)
- A notification informing users about the potential presence of private or sensitive content in their captured images or video. Privacy alerts aim to prompt users to apply obfuscation or take other protective action. However, research with blind users highlights tensions: while…
- Privacy Enhancing Technology(also: PET, PETs)
- A category of tools, protocols, and practices designed to protect user privacy while using digital systems, including anonymising proxies, tracker blockers, end-to-end encryption, differential privacy, and private browsing modes. PETs increasingly intersect with accessibility…
- Privacy Leak(also: Accidental Disclosure, Privacy Disclosure)
- The unintentional capture and sharing of sensitive personal information through visual assistance technologies. Research has found that approximately 10% of images submitted to VAT services contain private content such as pregnancy tests, prescription medication, and people,…
- Privacy Threat Model(also: Privacy Threat Analysis, Privacy Risk Assessment)
- A systematic process for identifying, classifying, and evaluating potential privacy risks that a technology system may pose to its users. Privacy threat modeling extends security-focused frameworks (like Microsoft's STRIDE) to address privacy-specific concerns. The LINDDUN…
- Privacy by Default(also: Privacy by Design, Default Privacy Settings)
- Privacy by default is a design principle requiring that systems automatically protect user privacy without requiring users to take action. In accessibility contexts, this principle is particularly important for older adults and people with cognitive disabilities who may not…
- Privacy by Design(also: PbD)
- A framework that embeds privacy protections into the design and architecture of systems and business practices from the outset, rather than adding them as afterthoughts. In the context of visual assistance technologies, privacy by design encompasses on-device processing, data…
- Privacy-Enhancing Data Filters(also: Privacy Filters, Data Obfuscation Filters)
- Visual or data modifications applied to training datasets that obscure the identity of contributors while preserving the information needed for machine learning tasks. In the context of sign language video, these filters may include face blurring, cel shading, avatar…
- Privacy-Enhancing Technologies(also: PETs)
- Tools and techniques that protect user privacy by limiting the collection, use, and dissemination of personal information online. Examples include VPNs, ad blockers, privacy-focused browsers like Brave, encrypted messaging apps, and Do Not Track settings. For users with…
- Private Visual Content(also: PVC, Visual Privacy)
- Private visual content (PVC) refers to visual information in images or videos that the person depicted or sharing the content considers private and would not want publicly disclosed. For people who are blind using visual interpreter services, PVC is a particular concern because…
- Pseudonymization(also: Pseudonymisation, De-identification)
- A privacy technique in which personally identifying fields are replaced with artificial identifiers — typically hashes, tokens, or randomly assigned IDs — so that the data can no longer be attributed to a specific person without additional information kept separately. Recognised…
- Push-to-Talk(also: PTT, Push to talk)
- An interaction pattern where a user presses and holds (or taps) a dedicated button to signal the start of an input — historically used in two-way radios, now common in voice assistants and conversational interfaces as an alternative to continuous listening. In accessibility…
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