A Measure of Personal Information in Mobile Data

This paper describes fundamental aspects of a framework for privacy-preserving data sharing in a mobile context. The principal technical challenge is measuring the level of personal information (PI) in datasets that are shared for the delivery or enhancement of mobile enabled services. Another challenge is determining the threshold delineating a “reasonable likelihood” of an individual being identifiable from the data. The risk of reidentification defines personally identifiable information (PII). The measure of PI must go beyond simply analysing personal attributes captured in data and consider preference revealed through use of services, temporal and spatial aspects of data, as well as context for use of services.