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Chemical Traces On Your Phone Reveal Your Lifestyle, Scientists Say (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Scientists say they can deduce the lifestyle of an individual, down to the kind of grooming products they use, food they eat and medications they take, from chemicals found on the surface of their mobile phone. Experts say analysis of someone's phone could be a boon both to healthcare professionals, and the police. "You can narrow down male versus female; if you then figure out they use sunscreen then you pick out the [people] that tend to be outdoorsy -- so all these little clues can sort of narrow down the search space of candidate people for an investigator," said Pieter Dorrestein, co-author of the research from the University of California, San Diego. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the U.S. and Germany describe how they swabbed the mobile phone and right hand of 39 individuals and analyzed the samples using the highly sensitive technique of mass spectrometry. The results revealed that each person had a distinct "signature" set of chemicals on their hands which distinguished them from each other. What's more, these chemicals partially overlapped with those on their phones, allowing the devices to be distinguished from each other, and matched to their owners. Analysis of the chemical traces using a reference database allowed the team to match the chemicals to known substances or their relatives to reveal tell-tale clues from each individual's life -- from whether they use hair-loss treatments to whether they are taking antidepressants.
This technique will soon be used by law enforcement to profile persons with encrypted phones, especially at the borders. I will be sure to stick mine up my ass before handing it to them.
This is in no way a surprise to learn that the chemicals on the hand that picks up and handles the phone are also on the phone. I wonder who paid for this study and what agencies the scientists are hoping will continue to fund further research that further proves that when you touch something you transfer what you had on the surface of your hands. Are they hoping that law enforcement supports their work? This might be useful where burner phones were used in a crime and were wiped to remove prints. Outside of that scenario, I don't see another practical use for this analytical method..
analysis of someone's phone could be a boon both to healthcare professionals, and the police. "You can narrow down male versus female
...with a Samsung Galaxy Notes 7! This smartphone has been carefully designed with privacy in mind: it incorporates a very low level phone formatting mode to erase completely not only data, but also chemical substances that could compromise user's privacy.
This reminds me of a story I read where Stalin had a special toilet installed for a diplomatic visit from Mao. The toilet didn't drain into the sewer, but into a special tank. Then the Soviets did nothing with Mao but feed him as much food as he could possibly eat for ten days. At some point he angrily shouted that he was in Russia to do more than just eat and shit. Meanwhile Stalin had a crack team of scientists secretly collect and analyse Mao's stool samples for clues into his personality. They took it so seriously that they decided not to sign a trade agreement or something. Source.
Human Rights, Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and Correspondence
They're going to find fecal matter, aren't they?
Till a 'study' with a sample size of 39 is used by a prosecuting attorney as 'fact' and the plebe of a public defender rolls under it and does not contest. Juries love forensic 'experts' makes things look a bit more like the CSI drivel they watch.
Silence is a state of mime.
I was intrigued (I suppose that I still am) until the comment about sunscreen and being outdoorsy. Herein lies the danger of such things, but I assume it is poor journalism rather than poor science (or, at least, I hope the scientists aren't concluding this).
You see, I wear sunscreen. Religiously. I am not terribly "outdoorsy". I am paranoid about skin cancer (runs in the family) and wrinkles (I'm a bit vain, what can I say).
I think what they meant to say is, given a population with certain characteristics, one can infer certain probabilities about the population. While this is interesting in a population, it's also the same horse s#!t that results in me getting Facebook ads centered around marijuana because I align closely with libertarians (but I don't smoke pot. At all). I long for the day when our marketing overlords start sending me phone ads for paddle boarding or tennis or outdoor yoga because I wear sunscreen. It's so much easier to tune out stuff that has zero relevance.
Condoms for cell phones! The new iDOM...protection for using your phone. The new GalaxyDOM....explosive results!