Ethics, Privacy & Participant Consent
Theory Games SCI is an experimental cybersecurity and behavioral analysis platform.
Participation implies acceptance of the ethical and operational conditions described below.
Purpose of the Platform
This platform exists exclusively for:
- Scientific research
- Cybersecurity awareness experimentation
- Behavioral analysis
- Human factors studies
- Educational and academic purposes
- Experimental telemetry analysis
Behavioral Instrumentation
The platform may record interaction telemetry generated during participation.
Examples include:
- Email opening events
- Time until decision
- Hover duration over links
- Inspection patterns
- Decision outcomes
- Forward propagation behavior
- Interaction timing
- Experimental session activity
This information may later be used for statistical, scientific or educational analysis.
Privacy
The platform operates entirely inside a controlled experimental environment.
The system does not intentionally collect:
- Real passwords
- External personal credentials
- Private browsing history
- Personal external communications
- Private third-party account data
All interactions occur exclusively within the experimental platform.
Experimental Content
Some emails may intentionally contain:
- Phishing indicators
- Ambiguous visual structures
- Social influence markers
- Misleading branding
- Deceptive urgency cues
- Conflicting trust signals
These mechanisms are necessary to reproduce realistic cybersecurity decision environments.
Social Propagation
The platform may propagate classifications between users.
This means participants may receive emails previously classified by other users.
The goal is to study:
- Social influence
- Trust propagation
- Behavioral contagion
- Collective uncertainty
- Group dynamics
- Information cascades
Data Usage
Collected data may be used for:
- Academic publications
- Research analysis
- Behavioral modeling
- Cybersecurity awareness studies
- Statistical analysis
- Educational demonstrations
Whenever possible, participant identities should be anonymized or pseudonymized in future analysis.
Participant Responsibilities
- Use the platform responsibly.
- Do not intentionally disrupt the experimental environment.
- Do not attempt unauthorized access to infrastructure components.
- Do not share assigned credentials with other participants.
- Do not intentionally manipulate experimental outcomes.
Risk Disclaimer
This platform intentionally exposes participants to deceptive or ambiguous content as part of the experimental methodology.
Participants should understand that some elements may intentionally simulate:
- Phishing attacks
- Social engineering attempts
- False legitimacy cues
- Ambiguous trust signals
- Propagation of misinformation
These mechanisms are necessary to reproduce realistic cybersecurity decision environments.
Consent Statement
By accessing and using Theory Games SCI, participants acknowledge and accept that:
- The environment is experimental and research-oriented.
- Behavioral interactions may be logged.
- Telemetry may be analyzed for scientific purposes.
- Some content may intentionally contain deceptive characteristics.
- Social influence mechanisms may be present.
- The platform is intended for educational and scientific experimentation.
Research Context
Theory Games SCI may be used within academic or scientific contexts related to:
- Cybersecurity
- Behavioral Sciences
- Human Factors
- Organizational Behavior
- Game Theory
- Cognitive Analysis
- Social Influence Modeling
- Human-Computer Interaction
Final Notes
The purpose of the platform is not to evaluate individuals as “good” or “bad” users.
Instead, the platform seeks to understand how humans allocate attention, evaluate trust, respond to ambiguity and propagate information in cybersecurity environments.
Participation contributes to the development of future behavioral cybersecurity methodologies and awareness systems.