Author Topic: Mobile phone data to replace census?  (Read 3565 times)

Offline Mike in Cumbria

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 17:32 GMT (UK) »
I think I've missed something  :-\

What data could be collected via phone records  ???

Annie

One example is the pattern of where people work in relation to where they live. If your data shows that you make the same journey for five days a week, it's a pretty good guess that this is a commuting pattern. Big data mining techniques combine millions of records in this way to build up a picture of population trends.

Offline Mike in Cumbria

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #10 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 17:36 GMT (UK) »
If you're wondering how these techniques could replicate the census returns that we're accustomed to seeing (age, occupation, relation to head of house, place of birth etc), well, they won't. However, the purpose of the census is to provide data for healthcare planning, infrastructure, house-building etc and the current research is to find out whether new techniques could be used to satisfy these requirements and whether they could do so more efficiently that the 10 yearly questionnaire.

Offline Rosinish

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #11 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 17:48 GMT (UK) »
Hmm...

MiC...this is not aimed at yourself, merely a scenario  ;)

My father's neighbour had a house fire which caused smoke damage to my father's house & I travelled daily for 6 months (30 miles each way) to clean up, decorate etc. having to sift through every single thing to see what could be saved (a lifetime of belongings) which included letters/photos/postcards among many other things i.e. it could have been assumed I was travelling to/from work which couldn't be any further from the truth & I'm sure others travel long distances to relatives frequently too.

Annie

South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee

"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"

Offline Guy Etchells

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #12 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 17:50 GMT (UK) »
It is not just mobile phone data but things like insurance details given on electoral registers, NHS lists,  insurance applications, credit/debit card usage, oyster cards (London), travel cards for the elderly and the disabled there are numerous data banks being built up on everyone of us whether we know or not.
These data sets are live data, rather than census data which is up to 10 years out of date.

When such databases take over from census (as much of it already has) one thing is certain, we the public will not have access to the data.
Cheers
Guy
http://anguline.co.uk/Framland/index.htm   The site that gives you facts not promises!
http://burial-inscriptions.co.uk Tombstones & Monumental Inscriptions.

As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.


Offline Guy Etchells

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 17:54 GMT (UK) »
Hmm...

MiC...this is not aimed at yourself, merely a scenario  ;)

My father's neighbour had a house fire which caused smoke damage to my father's house & I travelled daily for 6 months (30 miles each way) to clean up, decorate etc. having to sift through every single thing to see what could be saved (a lifetime of belongings) which included letters/photos/postcards among many other things i.e. it could have been assumed I was travelling to/from work which couldn't be any further from the truth & I'm sure others travel long distances to relatives frequently too.

Annie



Except you were, agreed it was not paid employment but you did travel to a place where you worked. The fact that you were not in paid employment may have been gleaned from other data sets such as shopping, CCTV cameras on your route, your father's address etc.

Cheers
Guy
http://anguline.co.uk/Framland/index.htm   The site that gives you facts not promises!
http://burial-inscriptions.co.uk Tombstones & Monumental Inscriptions.

As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.

Offline Rosinish

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #14 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 18:08 GMT (UK) »
Guy...

How would anyone have known what I was doing inside those doors?

Big Brother has been around for many years now although many people were/are unaware.

None-the-less, my phones won't give them many clues about where I was/am as I seldom use or answer my phones.

It's actually very interesting to know what methods are used which is an invasion of privacy really & not unlike 'phone tapping' & then as you say, we will have no access in the future to our own past...

How ironic  ::)

Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee

"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"

Offline Mike in Cumbria

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #15 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 18:43 GMT (UK) »
By gathering huge amounts of such data, cross-referenced with other sources, such as those that Guy lists, patterns can be established, and conclusions drawn.  Individual discrepancies like you visiting your father's house, will be insignificant.

Another example - mining social media for specific disease-related words and cross-referencing with mobile phone data has allowed researchers to map disease outbreaks and could be used to plan healthcare responses.

Offline Guy Etchells

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #16 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 18:47 GMT (UK) »
Guy...

How would anyone have known what I was doing inside those doors?
Big Brother has been around for many years now although many people were/are unaware.

None-the-less, my phones won't give them many clues about where I was/am as I seldom use or answer my phones.

It's actually very interesting to know what methods are used which is an invasion of privacy really & not unlike 'phone tapping' & then as you say, we will have no access in the future to our own past...

How ironic  ::)

Annie


[/QUOTE]

They wouldn't but they would know it was your father's house and they could even know his neighbour had a fire not long before and shopping habits could fill in other details.

Things do not always have to be spelled out to make reasonable assumptions.

They would also have your record of employment or lack of employment for the relevant period.
They would also know or could easily find out your father's age, state of health, and any details they wanted to about you to complete the picture.
These may include your photo (from driving licence or passport), your level of education from school records, where you live who you live with and the price paid for your house. If you drove to your dad's house much of the route you used through roadside cameras and 101 other details about your life.

There is no reason to be worried about this (not that you seem to be) as in most cases it is used to improve life but it can also be used to disrupt criminals and terrorists.

You could go to https://data.gov.uk/ and dig down or even contact them for further information if required.

For instance if you want to see details of your driving licence (if you have one) visit
https://www.gov.uk/view-driving-licence
To see if your car is MoTed or taxed see
https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/
There are many sites where you can discover many details about yourself or with a little bit of information about other people.
Cheers
Guy

PS If you travelled 30 miles each way a day for a number of months and there were reasons to suspect it was for employment then agencies such as HMRC might start looking into why you were travelling such distances and what could be the possible reason, but there would probably be other reasons to flag you for further investigation.

Cheers
Guy
http://anguline.co.uk/Framland/index.htm   The site that gives you facts not promises!
http://burial-inscriptions.co.uk Tombstones & Monumental Inscriptions.

As we have gained from the past, we owe the future a debt, which we pay by sharing today.

Offline Rosinish

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Re: Mobile phone data to replace census?
« Reply #17 on: Tuesday 07 November 17 20:17 GMT (UK) »
Guy...

That's correct, I'm not worried but what does worry me is the cost of the way this data is collected against a form filled in on a few sheets of A4 & the fact that our future generations won't be able to access any info. on us to give them an insight on how we live(d)  ;D

Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie

Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)

Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling

Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon

Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee

"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"