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Cell Phone Tracking Reveals Users' Habits

Posted by timothy on from the there-and-back-again-must-be-the-shire dept.

DinkyDogg writes "'New research that makes creative use of sensitive location-tracking data from 100,000 cellphones in Europe suggests that most people can be found in one of just a few locations at any time, and that they do not generally go far from home.' More interesting than their conclusion, however, is how they got their data. 'The researchers said they used the potentially controversial data only after any information that could identify individuals had been scrambled. Even so, they wrote, people's wanderings are so subject to routine that by using the patterns of movement that emerged from the research, "we can obtain the likelihood of finding a user in any location." The researchers were able to obtain the data from a European provider of cellphone service that was obligated to collect the information. By agreement with the company, the researchers did not disclose the country where the provider operates.' Any guesses which European country requires cell phone providers to record where their customers make calls, and then allows them to give that data away without disclosing that they have done so?"

4 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Is that really so surprising? by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My typical day is: wake up, shower, go to work, be at work 8h (I don't go out for lunch), go back home, cook, eat, relax, sleep. That adds up to 2 places where I'll be, and anywhere on the highway to work. Add in grocery shopping in one of the two nearby supermarkets and you pretty much know where I'll be on any given day Monday to Friday.

    On weekends it might be a bit more complex because I go to the recycling centre, eventually visit my parents or my wifes parents, go to a restaurant, the movies, but even then.... What is it going to add up to? A dozen places?

    This only proves that we're routine-animals. That's all....

    --
    Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    1. Re:Is that really so surprising? by bloodninja · · Score: 5, Funny

      My typical day is: wake up, shower, go to work, be at work 8h (I don't go out for lunch), go back home, cook, eat, relax, sleep. That adds up to 2 places where I'll be, and anywhere on the highway to work. Add in grocery shopping in one of the two nearby supermarkets and you pretty much know where I'll be on any given day Monday to Friday.

      This is why I walk my dog a different route each day. I don't even know what route we will take until we are back. It adds a little bit of surprise and a little bit of uncertainty into an otherwise very uniform and repetitive existence.
      --
      Lock the wife and the dog in the boot of the car.
      Return one hour later.
      Who's happy to see you?
    2. Re:Is that really so surprising? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I vary my route to and from work just a little each day...to keep the terrorists guessing. It's the only way to be sure.

  2. Re:Germany! by fluch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    T Mobile? I would not be surprised.

    The country is definitely Germany. You can get the publication in question from the authors homepage Then take figure 1a (as suggested in hweimer's blog) and lay it over some google map, appropriately scaled.

    The data is definitely centered around Germany, but tracks reach to Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Cech Republic...