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UT Dallas Professor Captures the Mobile Interactions of 175 Texas Teens

Posted by timothy on from the why-would-you-think-that-was-creepy? dept.

nonprofiteer writes "A University of Texas-Dallas developmental psychology professor has used a $3.4 million NIH grant to purchase Blackberries for 175 Texas teens, capturing every text message, email, photo, and IM they've sent over the past 4 years.Half a million new messages pour into the database every month. The researchers don't 'directly ask' the teens about privacy issues because they don't want to remind them they're being monitored. So many legal and ethical issues here. I can't believe this is IRB-approved. Teens sending nude photos alone could make that database legally toxic. And then there's the ethical issue of monitoring those who have not consented to be part of the study, but are friends with those who have. When a friend texted one participant about selling drugs, he responded, 'Hey, be careful, the BlackBerry people are watching, but don't worry, they won't tell anyone.'" This sounds like an American version of the "Seven Up" series.

110 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. I have a better idea by PastBlast · · Score: 1, Insightful

    How about a $3.4M grant researching how universities and colleges abuse the privacy of teens and students?

    1. Re:I have a better idea by John+Napkintosh · · Score: 1

      It doesn't take $3.4M to say "their parents consented to it".

      --

      Long signatures suck.
    2. Re:I have a better idea by DanTheStone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Abuse how? They know what they're getting into. They received the phones with the express condition of the monitoring. And it requires the parents' consent as well as the children's.

    3. Re:I have a better idea by stephanruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And then there's the ethical issue of monitoring those who have not consented to be part of the study, but are friends with those who have.

      That's the same issue that most people already have with texts and emails.

      If I text you or email you something, I have no idea if you're going to download that message unto your work cell phone, or your work laptop, and besides even if you do own your own cell phone and your own account, I have no guarantee that you won't forward my texts or my emails to others anyway.

    4. Re:I have a better idea by macwhizkid · · Score: 5, Informative

      You do know that R01 grants aren't exactly done on a secret handshake agreement, right? There are so many hoops academic researchers have to jump through to get federal funding. And I say that as someone who almost lost his job the day after landing a big grant, because I accidentally kept someone out of the loop. Your grant proposal gets reviewed by your department people, by the IRB committee, by the university's office of research, and by internal counsel (if needed) BEFORE it ever leaves campus. And then it gets reviewed by program officers, and many impartial and often vicious grant reviewers. And let's not forget that NIH grant success rates in many institutes are approaching 10%, so likely it won't matter at all because you won't get funded.

      And, shockingly, the grant description has been available at NIH.gov since at least 2009: "An important innovation of this phase of the longitudinal study will be careful assessment of social aggression in online communication by providing adolescents with handheld devices and recording and coding the content of their text messaging, Instant Messaging, and email communication."

      You personally may disagree with the decision that the project is ethical, but you can't argue that they weren't honest with everyone about what they set out to do.

    5. Re:I have a better idea by Sir_Sri · · Score: 4, Informative

      LIkely this went through layers of reviews of what exactly can and can't be done with and to the data, and explicitly spelling out to the people getting the phones just what they've agreed to.

      You can't get this kind of data without 'violating' privacy in some way or another (I use quotes because as long as they've spelled out what exactly they're doing it's not technically a violate0. But that's also what makes it valuable research, you can't know what people are actually using the devices for without asking them to fully tell you. That real information about how devices are actually use is tremendously valuable to all sorts of different groups of people, from the technical side of things to the sociology and history people.

      From TFA they seemed to have based their data gathering on SEC rules for gathering data on employee communications and use the same technology. Essentially the students are being given cell phones the way your employer would give you one, and monitored and data aggregated accordingly. They are yearly paid 50 bucks for visits, sign yearly consent forms and are fully aware of what exactly is being tracked, which, admittedly, produces certain biases in the data. They know they're being monitored and that data will be stored forever, but they may not be entirely aware of what that means, but I guess that's the tricky balance, the data isn't any good if they don't behave normally, but then they might not behave normally if you for every text message you insert one reminding them this call is all being recorded.

      As per TFA "Underwood got a Federal Certificate of Confidentiality from the NIH, exempting the researchers from having to report any discussion of crimes to authorities. But her team is required to monitor the database for talk of suicide or abuse. On a weekly basis, they do a search with a long list of words, including rape, kill myself, or older man. They’ve had to intervene fewer than 5 times, says Underwood."

      Now obviously the researcher in question is a bit naive about just what a public dump of the data could reveal, but then you'd never know any of the stuff this data can tell you without being able to get it.

    6. Re:I have a better idea by networkBoy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In which case I see no issue.
      I see it in the same light as my typing this reply on my work provided notebook over my work provided network connection on my lunch break. My employer is entitled to:
      * look at my browser cache
      * look at the proxy logs
      * instruct the proxy to cache all content to/from my machine on the net
      etc.

      These phones are no different. The teens were employed by the study, payment was in the form of an unlimited phone for the duration of employment. The only difference in this case is the whole reason for employment in this case was to allow snooping, as opposed to my employment being to surf the web and look for security related stuff, then apply what I see/learn to our latest products as an attack, and document my success/failure with said attacks.
      -nB

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    7. Re:I have a better idea by macwhizkid · · Score: 2

      Damn, pasted wrong URL. Hate it when I do that.

      http://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=8070026&icde=12211723

    8. Re:I have a better idea by crazyjj · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or a $3.4 million grant to study how federal grant money is wasted on useless studies.

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    9. Re:I have a better idea by fafaforza · · Score: 1

      Doesn't the summary say they weren't exactly told their activity would be monitored?

    10. Re:I have a better idea by geekoid · · Score: 2

      no. It says they aren't reminded.

      And that makes sense, you want to trap as natural flow of information as possible.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    11. Re:I have a better idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Abuse how? They know what they're getting into. They received the phones with the express condition of the monitoring.

      As opposed to the rest of us, who receive phones without the "express" condition of monitoring.

    12. Re:I have a better idea by skine · · Score: 2

      How often are you reminded about the terms of the contract that you've signed with you ISP, credit card companies, cell phone provider, Facebook, /., etc.?

      These students were reminded annually, which makes the study more upfront than practically any other signed contract.

  2. Re:Expensive blackberries by Mr2cents · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Also, with the help of a calculator, I got 98 messages per day per teen. That's like what I send in a busy year.

    --
    "It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful." - Anton LaVey
  3. Re:Expensive blackberries by LanMan04 · · Score: 1

    lso, with the help of a calculator, I got 98 messages per day per teen. That's like what I send in a busy year.

    If you're using it in a back-and-forth, "Instant Message" way, it's pretty easy to rack up that many messages.

    --
    With the first link, the chain is forged.
  4. Poor kids! by Sensi · · Score: 1

    They have to be the coolest kids in school still using an 8730e.

    After this study the RIM marketshare is going to drop immensely.

  5. US Government response by geekmux · · Score: 5, Funny

    US Government response to their measly $3.4 million dollar program monitoring a tiny fraction of the entire country, as they fire up their $3.4 trillion dollar system...

    "Amateurs. You call THAT monitoring? Please..."

    It's really amazing the things that can be built when someone else is paying for it...

    1. Re:US Government response by SJHillman · · Score: 1

      Assuming costs increase proportional to the number of people being monitored, $3.4 trillion would pay for monitoring 175 million people - it's also probably safe to assume that even though it's the government, the scale is large enough that the cost per person would go down somewhat. So in the end, your $3.4 trillion estimation is probably spot on for a government monitoring program of the United States' roughly 310 million citizens (including the too young, the too old and the too ill).

    2. Re:US Government response by XiaoMing · · Score: 1

      Well, no.

      Economies of scale aside (which would imply order of magnitude 10x gains rather than a 2x gain for the population of this country), you also have to keep in mind that the U.S. Government isn't supplying all of us with top of the line (Remember: 4 years ago, and teens have to be willing to use them) cell phones for 4 years.

      And even then, if you do the math, it was a pretty big waste of money just for these 175 teens.

      In short, the bigger you go, the more money you blow when it comes to the government and how it does its funding.

  6. And I thought the Blackberry was a leash before... by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    I used to always think of the Blackberry as a leash watching co-workers that had them. But this takes it to the next level:

    When teens have run away from home, the researchers have contacted them on their Blackberries at the behest of their parents, reminding them that "continued access to the Blackberry depends on their parents' continuing to give consent" All runaways have returned home."

    Whoa!

    It makes you wonder if phase 2 would be something like "we also have the ability to send every SMS from the last two months to your parents".

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  7. Re:Expensive blackberries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So what you're saying is that you have no friends. Gotcha.

  8. Re:Expensive blackberries by Mitchell314 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Grant money also goes to help paying salaries, student tuition, equipment, and additional workers. Don't forget about the money for the database, db administrators/developers, computers, and all the other technical work involved for four years. Also, the school also takes out a large chunk, ours tacks up to 50% extra on top of the subtotal.

    You'd be surprised how expensive research can get. Not that I'm justifying that it should be that expensive, just saying there's a lot involved in the budget. Not everybody has access to cheap, available undergrads capable of doing the work. :p

    --
    I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
  9. Don't worry? by WhatAreYouDoingHere · · Score: 2

    When a friend texted one participant about selling drugs, he responded, 'Hey, be careful, the BlackBerry people are watching, but don't worry, they won't tell anyone.'"

    Um.. looks like that one slipped out, somehow.

    --
    "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
    1. Re:Don't worry? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      It's simple,. why don't people understand it?
      YOu ahve the researcher and the database

      You have teen A with one of the devices.
      You have teen B with a different device
      teen B sends a text to Teen A about drugs.

      Teen A responds with the watch out message.

      The researchers never replied. They didn't tell anyone.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  10. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's not without their knowledge. According to TFA, they meet back up to sign thorough consent forms with their parents each year. It's just not in the front of their minds all the time. (Or, at least, that's the hope.)

  11. Re:Expensive blackberries by mehrotra.akash · · Score: 1

    On some days I cross 200, so 98/teen/day does not seem too high

  12. Blackberry photo logging? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'm curious how they did that, the native software from Research In Motion doesn't have an option to log photos.

    I presume it's with some spyware, but I'd like to know which.

  13. Ha ha ha, privacy. by LoudMusic · · Score: 1

    Ha ha ha, privacy.

    That's really all I have to say. Slashdot wanted more text though so here it is.

    --
    No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
  14. Re:Expensive blackberries by KarrdeSW · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well they're on sprint... So about $70/month for unlimited text and data = 840 per year.

    Over the last four years that's $3,360 per teen.

    For 175 Teens that's $588,000.

    Then you have the monitoring software, the backend database. Half a million messages per month? Over four years that's 24,000,000 messages in an uknown number of tables. You might want to pay a person to make sure that thing stays running and do daily backups to make sure there are no gaps in your data if stuff breaks.

    Then you have the army of grad students who are probably funded through that grant who are either sifting through the data themselves, or coding up machine learning applications to draw conclusions from it.

    And this research project also existed before they started using blackberries (since 2003). So this $3.4 million seems to have gone a long way.

  15. Re:Expensive blackberries by SJHillman · · Score: 1

    That's roughly what I figured it to as well. But you have to remember that a lot of teens replace what used to be normal face-to-face interaction with text messaging and each message approximates one sentence (often less) in a verbal conversation. Also, I assume it counts both sent and received messages, so figure them sending roughly half of that.

  16. Obviously they are telling people by harl · · Score: 1

    When a friend texted one participant about selling drugs, he responded, 'Hey, be careful, the BlackBerry people are watching, but don't worry, they won't tell anyone.'"

    That proves they are telling people.

    --
    I find being offended by me offensive.
    1. Re:Obviously they are telling people by geekoid · · Score: 1

      no, that proves that the person reply to the text told someone.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  17. there are zero by nimbius · · Score: 1

    legal or ethical issues here. corporations do not "directly" ask customers about privacy issues either, instead they just bury them in a sarcophagus of TOS, EULA, Third-Party Licensing egreements, and that long triplicate contract we all sign for cellphone endentured servitude. telecommunications corporations lathed and lacquered the bed upon which customers get fucked, quite some time ago. reacting with consternation to any "violations" you may experience at this point should be a laughable endeavor worthy of public shaming.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  18. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I see a multi-million dollar lawsuit in their future. Spying on people's private data w/o their knowledge sounds like a wet dream for a civil class-action lawyer.

    The fuck? I'll let you read THE SUMMARY again... And this time, pay close attention to:

    When a friend texted one participant about selling drugs, he responded, 'Hey, be careful, the BlackBerry people are watching, but don't worry, they won't tell anyone.'

    Yes. CLEARLY they have no idea the BlackBerry they got for free in exchange for being monitored is being monitored.

    Also, check out 'one party consent'. KTHXBYE.

  19. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by FreshlyShornBalls · · Score: 1

    I see a multi-million dollar lawsuit in their future. Spying on people's private data w/o their knowledge sounds like a wet dream for a civil class-action lawyer.

    Did you read the article? Oh....wait....this is Slashdot. Anyway, the private data capturing was NOT w/o their knowledge. It was part of what they agreed to in order to receive a free phone, data plan and unlimited texting.

    --
    This space intentionally left blank.
  20. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Additionally, in Texas (where the study took place), only one party has to consent to the recording.

    So long as a wire, oral, or electronic communication—including the radio portion of any cordless telephone call—is not recorded for a criminal or tortious purpose, anyone who is a party to the communication, or who has the consent of a party, can lawfully record the communication and disclose its contents.

    Texas Penal Code 16.02.

  21. Re:And I thought the Blackberry was a leash before by JTsyo · · Score: 1

    Why would they care if they had run away from home?

  22. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by SJHillman · · Score: 1

    Think less "without their knowledge" and more "without constantly reminding them what they were told in the beginning"

  23. It's worth reading the article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    For gems such as this:

    "I'm sure you could write at least 69 academic papers about sexual behavior based on sexts alone. But the academics have written just one paper thus far, mainly focused on their techniques."

    1. Re:It's worth reading the article by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 2

      I agree with the gist of the quote, this dataset is a vast goldmine. I assume you are tickled because you read it as:

      I'm sure you could write academic "69" papers about sexual behavior based on sexts alone.

  24. Does it bother anyone else? by SecurityTheatre · · Score: 1

    Does it bother anyone else that, they obtained a waiver to exempt them from reporting ALL illegal activity except for two keywords, which they decided they MUST search for to fulfil legal requirements.

    Those keywords were "rape" and "older man".

    Really? WTF?

    Our society's priorities are fucked.

    1. Re:Does it bother anyone else? by MarkGriz · · Score: 2

      That's your criteria for deciding our priorities are fucked?

      How about wasting 3.4 million dollar to study this crap in the first place?

      --
      Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
    2. Re:Does it bother anyone else? by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      Bad and sexist priorities.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    3. Re:Does it bother anyone else? by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

      Reporting "older man" is pretty silly, but reporting "rape" makes sense to me. 50% isn't bad when you're talking about the US legal system.

    4. Re:Does it bother anyone else? by chrismcb · · Score: 1

      How about wasting 3.4 million dollar to study this crap in the first place?

      Why do you think learning about how teenagers think and interact is a waste of money? There are a lot of bad projects out there, but I don't think this is one of them.

    5. Re:Does it bother anyone else? by chrismcb · · Score: 1

      Does it bother anyone else that, they obtained a waiver to exempt them from reporting ALL illegal activity except for two keywords, which they decided they MUST search for to fulfil legal requirements.

      Those keywords were "rape" and "older man".

      Let us RTFA shall we?:

      But her team is required to monitor the database for talk of suicide or abuse. On a weekly basis, they do a search with a long list of words, including rape, kill myself, or older man. They’ve had to intervene fewer than 5 times, says Underwood.

      They search for more than 2 keyphrases, and they only use the phrases to look at the text more closely. How many teenagers do you know of who talk about an "older man?"

    6. Re:Does it bother anyone else? by MarkGriz · · Score: 1

      Perhaps I should clarify. Spending 3.4 million dollars of private research money to study teenager interaction? Fine.
      Spending 3.4 million of taxpayer money? Not fine. This should not be the role of government.

      --
      Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder.
  25. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by EvilBudMan · · Score: 1

    NOTHING is private anymore period. Just simple as that.

  26. Re:Expensive blackberries by hawkinspeter · · Score: 2

    Doesn't that make you a producer of CP? You'd probably get into more trouble as you're intentionally taking the photos, whereas your ISP is only accidentally storing them.

    --
    You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
  27. Re:Expensive blackberries by TheRaven64 · · Score: 3, Informative

    You can be arrested for distributing child pornography if you are in the USA. See Slashdot back stories for a specific example...

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  28. no privacy issues here by Shooter6947 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I guess that I don't understand people's privacy objections here. Those people who got free BlackBerries are well aware of the monitoring. Legally, either party may record a conversation and save it and provide it to whomever they want (Though this varies by state). It's the responsibility of the BlackBerry owner to make sure that their friends know the situation -- and based on the last drug-text, they do.

    The bigger question that should be in a /. poll soon, is: "I would give a researcher all of your phone data, text, and other information, in exchange for a free:

    (1) dumb phone
    (2) BlackBerry
    (3) iPhone
    (4) RAZR smart phone
    (5) CowboyNeal "

    1. Re:no privacy issues here by SIR_Taco · · Score: 1

      I think the problem lies with the headline for the article:
      "UT Dallas Professor Captures the Mobile Interactions of 175 Texas Teens"

      Makes it sound like the Professor built some sort of tower and/or monitoring device and took the information against the will/knowledge of the Blackberry recipient.

      A better (truthful?) headline would have read:
      "UT Dallas Professor Studies the Mobile Interactions of 175 Texas Teens"

      --
      I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
    2. Re:no privacy issues here by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 1

      They were under 18. Some people that age can foresee consequences and make informed decisions. Many can't.

      Their parents also signed the consent forms, but what do you think the odds are that the parents understood what the teens were sending and receiving?

  29. Re:Expensive blackberries by cpu6502 · · Score: 2

    >>> "Instant Message" way, it's pretty easy to rack up that many messages.

    Indeed. 100 a day is easy. I'm disappointed Virgin Mobile got rid of its Texter's Delight for $15 (~500 minutes but unlimited texts). They've really gone downhill since Sprint acquired them.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  30. wow bad summary. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    These phones were given to 6th graders, with parental consent for a long term study to monitor the behavior of teens on phone as they age.
    There is nothing dirty here. You give someone a black berry, tell them you are going to track everything about it and anonymize out PII (both phone users
    AND people they are contacting)
    Sounds like science experiment to me.

    1. Re:wow bad summary. by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 2

      Aw, you're spoiling it for all the shallow-thinking whiners who aren't paying attention. Frankly, I would love to have a copy of the dataset. Think of the AI chatbot you could build based on the texts alone...

    2. Re:wow bad summary. by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Think of the AI chatbot you could build based on the texts alone...

      A chatbot based on the truncated simperings of adolescent narcissists? That's not curious, it's terrifying...

      "So, like, OMG, like, I said, like, WTF, and he was all, like, LOL, so I was all like, TLDR, and he was all, like, BRB, so I was all, like, BTWIRLSK8BCDCRCTLA!!!!"


      God help us...

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    3. Re:wow bad summary. by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 1

      Think of it, though. A chatbot communicating with potentially millions of adolescents. Learning even more from them. Talking to them. Getting through to them like no adult could ever imagine. Convincing them of things. Leveraging them. Wielding them.

    4. Re:wow bad summary. by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Think of it, though. A chatbot communicating with potentially millions of adolescents. Learning even more from them. Talking to them. Getting through to them like no adult could ever imagine. Convincing them of things. Leveraging them. Wielding them.

      You know, if you're trying to make it sound less terrifying, you're not doing a very good job...

      On the other hand, you've given me a great idea for a short story...

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    5. Re:wow bad summary. by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 1

      You mean like this one?

    6. Re:wow bad summary. by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

      Not exactly the direction I was thinking of, but interesting concept nonetheless...

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  31. Re:Expensive blackberries by Hadlock · · Score: 5, Informative

    My friend works for that research group. They upgrade the teen's phones every year to the newest "flagship" phone. Keep in mind that the kids opting in to this need a reason to continue with the project. That means a new iPhone2, iPhone 3, iPhone 3S, iphone4, iPhone4s etc. I think most of the kids switched off blackberries a long time ago.
     
    I'm not sure how big the research team is, but there's at least 4 full time non-students in the group. They don't keep an archive of all the data, interestingly. Probably for privacy reasons. They do classify the data in to positive/negative text messages, and identify who in the group are the alphas, betas, etc.
     
    I honestly wouldn't worry about the kid's data privacy/rights, knowing who works in that group, they're all a really good group of people and outstanding citizens overall.

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  32. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by skine · · Score: 2

    Not only did he not read TFA.

    GP didn't even read TFS.

    Honestly, I don't see how this can be illegal. It's no worse than owning a credit card, being part of a shopping rewards program, or having a facebook profile.

  33. Re:Expensive blackberries by JustSomeProgrammer · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yep. Won't someone think of the children and protect them from being exploited by... themselves?

  34. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by Sir_Sri · · Score: 1

    What's without their knowledge? Every year they have to discuss exactly how this goes, and they are using the tracking tools that are legally used on employees as per SEC rules. It's in TFA.

  35. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by cpu6502 · · Score: 2

    I didn't see any place in the summary where it said teens consent to having all their phone data recorded. Maybe I skimmed too fast.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  36. Hmmm ... by gstoddart · · Score: 1

    Can a bunch of teenagers legally sign up for something like this?

    They can't sign contracts, and they're legally too young to truly be able to consent to something like this. And who knows if their parents truly understand the ramifications of this.

    This sounds like it might be in a very grey area, if not outright questionable. Definitely on the creepy side to me.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Hmmm ... by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 2
      • a) their parents consent since they are minors
      • b) beware of aligning your creepiness criteria with commercial mass media standards

      There are vastly creepier and more exploitative things going on than this. War, financial scams, commercially promoted diabetogenic eating habits, deceitful demagoguery for every political persuasion, etc.

    2. Re:Hmmm ... by chrismcb · · Score: 1

      Can a bunch of teenagers legally sign up for something like this?

      Considering that they were recruited as 9 year olds, no. Both the kids and their parents agreed to be part of the program.

  37. Re:Expensive blackberries by SJHillman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do you spend much time around teens? Although it has added a little, it has replaced a lot. In terms of total time communicating compared to ten years ago, my personal experience is that teens spend far fewer minutes per day talking face to face, even if the overall time spent communicating is greater. The logical conclusion is that the facetime has been replaced moreso than added to.

  38. Re:Expensive blackberries by Sir_Sri · · Score: 2

    Um... 3.4 million for a blackberry enterprise server, phone plans, 175 phones, SEC approved monitoring equipment (monitoring them as though they were employees) and graduate student salaries. Paying the participants for yearly meetings, data hosting and backups.

    And remember, this was on phone plans set up several years ago too.

    Sure, that works out to about 5000 dollars per phone per year for 4 years. But it's hard to know just how many people are being paid on the backend for all of these things, what percentage the university takes, if they have to pay even one professor level person out of this for 4 years you're sucking up a LOT of cash on that, and as it even says, they have to hand process all of the texts (or even machine edit, you still need to pay for that software).

  39. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by cpu6502 · · Score: 1

    Just re-read the summary. It says nowhere about the teens consenting to being recorded.

    --
    My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
  40. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by EvilBudMan · · Score: 1

    Of course not they are the ones with your private info.

  41. Nice attampte by geekoid · · Score: 1

    at fear mongering and trying to create an issue.

    The teen know they are being monitored,
    And it's research so it's no legally in issue.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  42. Re:Expensive blackberries by netsavior · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the 4+ people who work on the project aren't the ones who own the data, the university is.

    that's the issue with privacy... we trust the people who we willingly give our privacy up to, but it is the people who come after them that we have to worry about.

  43. Soon to be published .... by PPH · · Score: 1

    .... 175 ways of texting: "Titis or STFU".

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  44. Re:Expensive blackberries by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

    The paper said that both girls and boys were roughly the same, averaging at sending about 110 messages per day.

    --
    "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  45. Re:And I thought the Blackberry was a leash before by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

    Most runaway teens eventually return home, so this isn't surprising at all.

  46. Re:Expensive blackberries by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    I honestly wouldn't worry about the kid's data privacy/rights, knowing who works in that group, they're all a really good group of people and outstanding citizens overall.

    Yes, yes. That sentiment has never gone wrong.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  47. The only issue I have is this: by Red_Chaos1 · · Score: 1

    âoeWe look at conversations about sex but we donâ(TM)t open photos for obvious reasons. For all the texting, Iâ(TM)m not sure how much sex stuff theyâ(TM)re actually doing. But weâ(TM)ll ask them in interviews.â

    Sticking your head in the sand does not protect you. The images are still there and as TFA brings up, creates the issue of having possible child porn in possession. I'd really like to know how they got around that, and what agreements were made to (presumably) bend the laws to allow it.

  48. Re:Expensive blackberries by geekoid · · Score: 1

    they don't archive it? interesting, and a shame.

    I would just assumed they would blind the data by assigning users a random number to identify text streams in the archived database.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  49. Really? BB? by jimmerz28 · · Score: 2

    This study should have really been looking at the psychological impact of teens being forced to use BB devices and how they will end up being scarred for life from the ridicule and bullying for not using an iPhone or Android smartphone.

    That large funding must really have helped a lot to bribe those teens to use a BlackBerry in the first place...

  50. Re:Expensive blackberries by Nidi62 · · Score: 3, Informative

    So all the kids who take pictures of themselve are pedophiles according to the US laws ?

    Yep. What's even better is that they are charged as adults for creating child pornography of themselves.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  51. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by skine · · Score: 1

    "The researchers don't 'directly ask' the teens about privacy issues because they don't want to remind them they're being monitored ."

    "And then there's the ethical issue of monitoring those who have not consented to be part of the study, but are friends with those who have [consented]."

    Emphasis and editing mine.

    In the first quote, in order to remind them that they are being monitored, they first have to be informed that they're being monitored.

    In the second quote, it makes it clear that the monitoring was done by consent.

  52. Re:And I thought the Blackberry was a leash before by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Sure, the result isn't - but the attempt to use the free blackberry plan as a lure back is pretty novel.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  53. Re:Expensive blackberries by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

    Don't confuse "adding" with "replacing". What you meant to say was that teens have ADDED additional text based communications on top of the existing social interactions they naturally do every day.

    No, I'm pretty sure they meant what they said, and considering every adolescent I run across these days is forehead-deep in some sort of communication device, I'm inclined to agree.

    Which leads me to ask - if these kids had the option to bypass their verbal 'social interactions,' as you put it, with textual ones, would they become mutes?

    The only thing social situation it "replaces" are 1 minute phone calls that we now take 10 minutes to do via email or IM.

    FTFY, while simultaneously pointing out the irony of referring to time consuming textual communication as "instant."

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  54. I can only think of the SouthPark episode by Rooked_One · · Score: 1

    The Toilet Safety Administration... With the guy... and the lotion... squishahshiquisha... prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt ...... prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt .......... squishahshiquisha

    That episode has made this story completely irrelevant to me as I can only think about a guy in that position... gross...

  55. $3.4M here, $3.4M there by cfulmer · · Score: 1

    And pretty soon you're talking about real money. My kids are going to have to pay back $3.4M + interest for this study. Stupid.

    1. Re:$3.4M here, $3.4M there by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      Exactly. Google is doing this for millions of people on Google Voice, and they're getting ad revenue to boot.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
  56. Re:Expensive blackberries by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 2

    You want to get rid of the pictures before you are 18. As soon as you turn 18, you are an adult in possession of child pornography. Doesn't even matter if the subject is yourself. I know, it is silly that the law makes no exceptions for pictures of yourself, but then again a lot of laws are silly.

    --
    "But this one goes to 11!"
  57. Re:Expensive blackberries by KarrdeSW · · Score: 1

    They don't keep an archive of all the data, interestingly. Probably for privacy reasons. They do classify the data in to positive/negative text messages, and identify who in the group are the alphas, betas, etc.

    Is this to say they don't keep the full text? Even anonymized or just identified as 'student 1..2...3'? I find that to be a bit of a shame, as a conversational dataset this large would be quite helpful for many types of research.

    At least that would strike a decent balance between privacy and usability, at least for the active research project.

  58. Re:Expensive blackberries by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 1

    Those outstanding citizens can be subpoenaed, for example by a divorce lawyer trying to show that a parent was unfit

  59. Re:Expensive blackberries by Matheus · · Score: 1

    I'd say the answer to your first question would have to be no to have that complete lack of understanding current communication amongst the youngins. I'm 35 but I spend a vast majority of my time hanging around 20 somethings (club music biz). Even they pretty much do all of their communicating via text. Calling someone is almost considered rude. The next crop coming out of HS are even worse (better?). I find myself somewhere in the middle. Minimum 500/month but usually closer to 1500-2000.

  60. Re:Expensive blackberries by Matheus · · Score: 1

    Is there an echo in here?

  61. Re:Expensive blackberries by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 2

    It isn't surprising that they ditched the archival of actual txt messages. My view is that even if one were to anonymize the data one could go back and with statistics and other informational gathering techniques end up being somewhere between 85% to 99% accurate as to who said what to who. No, the only way to make this secure is the delete the data but keep the metadata, and even that might end up problematic.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  62. Re:Sounds like the teens just won the lottery by Chase+Husky · · Score: 1

    You are an idiot since you apparently can't spend a few seconds Googling that just about every single research endeavor involving monitoring or experimenting with humans must be subject to IRB approval and hence continuous subject consent: http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/archive/irb/irb_chapter3.htm#e2

  63. Re:And I thought the Blackberry was a leash before by chrismcb · · Score: 1

    It makes you wonder if phase 2 would be something like "we also have the ability to send every SMS from the last two months to your parents".

    It is reward versus punishment (two sides to the same coin)
    There is a difference between "you get to keep your free phone" and "we are going to tell your parents every bad thing you did."

  64. I worked there for four and a half years by wolfgoesmoo · · Score: 2
    ...both before and after the Blackberries were added as part of the large grant. I'm not totally comfortable talking about all of it, but I will mention a couple things.

    As far as the size of the grant - imagine paying a cell phone bill for 175 teens for four years and ask yourself where a big chunk of that went.

    The participants themselves were made aware of the level of scrutiny their interactions received every year. In addition to gaining parent consent Every Single Year at a yearly data collection visit, we got student assent and made them aware that their stuff was being logged. Because they had already been involved for many years, they were used to the idea of being observed and were comfortable with it.

    As far as privacy is concerned, access to raw data is tightly controlled. Before just about anyone got a look at the data, all the identifiers that the investigators could think of (including the identifiers for the teen participants themselves, who are guaranteed a certain amount of anonymity) were stripped from the logs. Although, yes, the communications of other teens who had neither given assent or consent were captured, any time it left the secure archive it was made anonymous. It might be creepy if we knew who they were, but anyone involved in working with the text didn't really have exposure to the teens themselves.

    As far as the images are concerned, we didn't archive any multimedia, just the text, at least when I was involved. For precisely the legal reasons everyone has brought up.

    1. Re:I worked there for four and a half years by wolfgoesmoo · · Score: 1
      Although, reading the article that was published, I guess I was wrong about not archiving photos?

      The problem with the photos in the archive, if I remember correctly, was that we had hooked up with a company that deals with other companies that are very tightly monitored, so the act of removing anything from the archive is very, very difficult for obvious reasons. Don't want people tampering with the evidence. I know it was discussed, but knowing the PI the way I do, I'm sure the child porn angle was considered and covered legally.

  65. Re:How is this better... by Roachie · · Score: 2

    Vacuum isn't that interesting.

    --
    This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
  66. Presumably most of the texts.... by trawg · · Score: 1

    ...are along the lines of "I wish I had an iPhone instead of this stupid Blackberry"?

  67. Issues of privacy are secondary.. by sonamchauhan · · Score: 1

    These are your tax dollars at work

  68. Re:Expensive blackberries by Pence128 · · Score: 1

    At this point, I'm hoping the sane people in the US will move away and the crazies will "how do I supported modern society?" themselves to death.

    --
    404: sig not found.
  69. Re:Expensive blackberries by Fjandr · · Score: 1

    It doesn't even require the sane ones to move away. The crazies outbreed the sane ones, so the downward spiral gets faster every year.

  70. Best line in the article by Bigfishbowl · · Score: 1

    "Iâ(TM)m sure you could write at least 69 academic papers about sexual behavior based on sexts alone." 6am, and already that made my day.

  71. Re:Expensive blackberries by metlin · · Score: 1

    I average about a third of that a day, between work and colleagues as well as friends and family. And if you include quick emails I send out (if it weren't for accountability, they would be text messages), I will probably be up to at least half that number.

    Now, understandably, they are teenagers, so that number seems extremely reasonable. I'd have been surprised if it were averaging ~300-500 messages a day, but less than a hundred? Meh. I've sent that many on a busy day.

  72. Blackberries? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    Blackberries?

    In a follow-up study, the professor plans to buy 175 Colecovisions to study teens' video game habits.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:Blackberries? by Vrtigo1 · · Score: 1

      Remember this started four years ago. The iPhone had barely been available for a year and Blackberry was still a fairly "good" phone.

  73. Is that how it's done now? by almechist · · Score: 1

    Wait, wait... So kids these days routinely take naked pictures of themselves and then send them to themselves??? That has got to be the most perverse method of masturbation I've ever heard of! I suppose sexting oneself could conceivably be seen as a natural outgrowth of the ever-more-pervasive role of the internet in modern sexuality, but still... I find the need to send oneself naughty pictures a bit strange. In fact, behavior like this deserves a name: "auto-erotic techno-narcissistic syndrome" or something. Jeez, in my day we just looked at girly mags.

  74. Doing it wrong by Vrtigo1 · · Score: 1

    Assuming an average cell phone plan runs them $75/month (taking into account estimated discounted pricing for an account w/ 175 phones), that's $630k for 4 years of service. If they just offered some type of app people could download to their phones which would allow them to be remotely monitored in exchange for $20/mo, I'm sure they'd get more than 175 people that would be willing to be monitored in exchange for the $20. Still, the same 175 people would only cost $168k over four years.

    Better still, market the app to parents of teens and include functionality that would allow the parents to monitor their teens activity online for free. I'm sure you would get thousands upon thousands of parents that would consent to have their teens phone service monitored in exchange for being able to monitor it themselves. That would totally eliminate the cost of providing cell service and make the only costs be the development of the app and the hosting of the servers, so call the app $50k and call the servers $15k/year and then your four year cost is only $110k and you'd have data from thousands if not tens of thousands of teens instead of only 175.