Consider8: Considerate refinement of mobile communication network traffic data

The Consider8 project will provide methods and algorithms for refining mobile communication traffic data into patterns of human mobility. The aim is to provide results that will assist in meeting existing market needs smarter and faster than current state-of-the-art, while adding much greater sensitivity to ethical considerations such as privacy.

The most pressing concerns for the project is to strike a balance between the privacy of mobile communication subscribers (individuals as well as groups) and the exploitation of traffic and transaction data. One of the main project activities will therefore be to chart the range of privacy issues that this data use may expose, while other activities will focus on methods and algorithms for creating patterns of human mobility in ways that make it impossible to identify individuals.

Among other issues, the project will investigate:

• the role of anonymization vs. pseudonymization,
• the applicability of informed consent and revenue sharing, and
• technical issues related to scalability and robustness of information collection and processing.

The project is a collaboration between SICS and Ericsson Research. SICS participation is fully funded by VINNOVA.

For more information about the project, please contact Markus Bylund.