mojo
Forerunner
Just four phone calls are enough to reveal your personal information, MIT researchers have warned.
A new study led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that data derived from mobile phone networks, using just the location of radio masts, could identify the about a vast majority of people from just four pieces of information.
The discovery raises questions over the increasing use by businesses and government agencies of supposedly anonymous data, 'The Telegraph' reported.
The researchers noted a simply anonymised data set may not contain name, home address, phone number or other obvious identifier, "yet, if individual's patterns are unique enough, outside information can be used to link the data back to an
individual."
They examined data collected over 15 months from 1.5 million people and found that "human mobility traces are highly unique".
"A list of potentially sensitive professional and personal information that could be inferred about an individual knowing only his mobility trace was published recently by the Electronic Frontier Foundation," researchers said.
Read more @SOURCE
A new study led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that data derived from mobile phone networks, using just the location of radio masts, could identify the about a vast majority of people from just four pieces of information.
The discovery raises questions over the increasing use by businesses and government agencies of supposedly anonymous data, 'The Telegraph' reported.
The researchers noted a simply anonymised data set may not contain name, home address, phone number or other obvious identifier, "yet, if individual's patterns are unique enough, outside information can be used to link the data back to an
individual."
They examined data collected over 15 months from 1.5 million people and found that "human mobility traces are highly unique".
"A list of potentially sensitive professional and personal information that could be inferred about an individual knowing only his mobility trace was published recently by the Electronic Frontier Foundation," researchers said.
Read more @SOURCE