A new MIT study examining anonymous credit card data shows that individuals can be identified using just a few pieces of information, writes Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Lee Hotz. “This touches on the fundamental limit of anonymizing data,” explains Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye.
In a piece for Scientific American, Larry Greenemeier writes about new MIT research showing how easy it is to identify individuals in anonymous data sets. “We have to think harder and reform how we approach data protection and go beyond anonymity, which is very difficult to achieve given the trail of information we all leave digitally,” says Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye.
MIT researchers were able to accurately identify individuals in an anonymous data set by looking at the date and location of four credit card transactions, reports Boer Deng for Nature. “Even when researchers only had estimates of time and location of a purchase to within a few days or neighbo[u]rhood blocks, they could still identify cardholders,” explains Deng.
Rebecca Jacobson writes for the PBS NewsHour about how MIT researchers have found that individuals in anonymous data sets can be identified using just a few pieces of outside information. The researchers found that there is a “94 percent chance of tracking all of your purchases with three pieces of extra information.”
Seth Borenstein and Jack Gillum write for the Associated Press about how MIT researchers have found individuals can be identified by examining a few purchases from anonymous credit card data. "We are showing that the privacy we are told that we have isn't real," explains Pentland.
MIT researchers have found that anonymous individuals in a data set can be identified using a few pieces of information, reports Natasha Singer for The New York Times. “We ought to rethink and reformulate the way we think about data protection,” explains Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye.
Karen Hopkin of Scientific American writes about a new method developed by MIT researchers for increasing the size of tissue samples to allow for better observation. Thus far, the researchers have used the new technique to “peer into the brains of mice, fruit flies and zebrafish,” Hopkin explains.
Jonathan O’Connell writes for The Washington Post about 10 interactive maps of Washington, D.C. created by Professor Sep Kamvar that illustrate how people live, work, eat, and travel within the District. The visualizations are part of Kamvar’s “You Are Here” series that mapped 100 cities using publicly available data.
Using a polymer found in diapers that swells on contact with water, Prof. Ed Boyden and his colleagues have developed a method for enlarging tissue samples to allow for better 3-D imaging, writes Jessica Hamzelou for New Scientist. The team can enlarge samples to more than four times their original size, Hamzelou reports.
John Markoff writes for The New York Times about a new technique for observing minuscule features in biological samples developed by Prof. Ed Boyden and his colleagues. The researchers “were able to increase the physical size of cultured cells and tissue by as much as five times while still preserving their structure,” Markoff explains.
Rebecca Jacobson of the PBS NewsHour reports that MIT researchers have developed a new technique to enlarge tissue samples, allowing scientists to create high-resolution images of specimens. Prof. Ed Boyden explains that “now you can see tiny structures with your own eyes.”
Carolyn Johnson of The Boston Globe writes that MIT researchers have developed a new way to enlarge microscopic lab samples to allow for more-detailed imaging of brain cells. The new technique “may offer an inexpensive way for people to examine fine cellular structures at a detailed level using off-the-shelf ingredients.”
A team of MIT researchers has devised a new method for obtaining super-high resolution images from lab microscopes, writes Malcolm Ritter for the AP. The researchers found that by permeating a tissue sample with a specialized version of sodium polyacrylate they were able to enlarge the sample, making them easier to image.
Robert Lane Greene writes for The Economist about a new paper by MIT researchers, which examines the importance of specific languages by studying how languages are connected to one another. The researchers found that for many languages “their connectivity has little to do with their home country’s modern power.”
According to the CBC, MIT graduate student Natasha Jaques co-created a computer application called Smile Tracker that “runs in the background of a person's computer and detects when a person smiles.” The app snaps and saves a screenshot of whatever image caused the grin.