Requiring consent from device owners for co-opted censorship measurements reduces coverage and continuity, and may paradoxically increase danger: soliciting consent signals intent to participants and draws attention, whereas the prevalence of malware and third-party trackers provides plausible deniability for unwitting device owners. The authors note that more widespread co-opted measurements collectively provide greater individual protection by normalizing unexplained outbound traffic.
From 2015-jones-ethical — Ethical Concerns for Censorship Measurement
· §2 Measurements from Co-Opted Devices
· 2015
· Ethics in Networked Systems Research
Implications
Circumvention systems that embed passive measurement capabilities should weigh whether opt-in consent increases participant risk relative to transparent-but-silent participation, particularly in high-repression environments.
Measurement traffic should be designed to blend with the ambient noise of tracker and CDN requests so it is not distinguishable as a deliberate circumvention or measurement act.