[530] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Possible Risks in MIT/ISPs Internet Traffic
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Mon Nov 2 12:41:35 2009
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 09:18:36 -0800
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Re the sharing of ISPs' traffic data with MIT researchers:
While http://mitas.csail.mit.edu/ discusses a number privacy-related
actions taken by the project participants, concern would still seem
appropriate. I for one would like to know how much non-anonymized
*destination* traffic data is being made available for this project,
particulary in light of the stated ability to track (anonymized) MAC
addresses. Also, to what extent are we dealing with aggregrate
statistics vs. actual traffic payload contents?
Research is continuing to show that it is surprisingly possible to
reconstruct identity data from supposedly "anonymous" data sets via
various analytical techniques. One obvious concern in a situation
like this "deal" between ISPs and MIT is to what extent "outside
entities" could demand access to the data with the goal of scanning
for particular usage patterns of interest, traceable back to
anonymized MAC addresses. At that point, it might be possible to go
to either the Internet services in question or back to ISPs to demand
identity information related to the particular activity patterns. In
other words, even if MAC addresses are scrambled in this data, the
trackability of individual anonymized MAC addresses still creates
potential avenues for abuse. If you can identify a given anonymized
MAC address of interest in terms of even a single connection in the
data, you can then use that scrambled MAC address to identify all
other related activity by that user.
Remember a few years ago when AOL released a massive pile of
supposedly "scrubbed" search data, but it was still possible to pick
out individual users?
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_scandal )
Analytical techniques have advanced considerably since then.
I believe that we need to know *much* more about the details of this
MIT/ISPs project.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
- - -
----- Forwarded message from David Farber <dave@farber.net> -----
Date: Mon, 2 Nov 2009 10:48:12 -0500
From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: [IP] MIT Internet Traffic Analysis Study
Reply-To: dave@farber.net
To: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com>
I assume proper care is taken on privacy djf
Begin forwarded message:
From: Jason Livingood <jason_livingood@cable.comcast.com>
Date: November 2, 2009 10:43:24 AM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Subject: MIT Internet Traffic Analysis Study
Dave - May be of interest for IP.
During the activities surrounding Comcast’s congestion management
challenges and responses in 2007 - 2008, one of the criticisms we heard was
that in the absence of good industry traffic data available to researchers,
it was not possible to either (1) objectively analyze traffic data or (2)
study any of the growth to develop new network designs and standards (not
to mention conducting other general network research). As a result of
that, we’ve been working more closely with researchers on a number of
fronts. One of these efforts has just been announced by MIT, and Comcast
has advised its users of its participation:
Comcast Participates in MIT Internet Traffic Analysis Study
The MIT Internet Traffic Analysis Study (MITAS) is a new research project
at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence laboratory (CSAIL).
The goal of this project is to undertake novel empirical research of ISP
traffic data. Data will be collected from at least six participating ISPs,
including Comcast, and the project hopes to add more ISPs. Better data and
collection methodologies are needed to inform the industry, the network
research community, and policy discussions about appropriate technical and
business approaches to traffic management.
Detailed traffic data will be collected from ISPs over time, enabling
researchers to formulate empirically valid characterizations of both
aggregate traffic patterns, as well as a traffic profile for the average
users. It is important to note that no personally identifiable information
about any participating ISPs' users will be used in this project.
More information about the MITAS research project can be found at the
MITAS website, at http://mitas.csail.mit.edu. The MITAS project is led at
MIT by Bill Lehr, David Clark, and Steven Bauer.
Regards
Jason Livingood
Internet Systems Engineering
Comcast
PS – The above info was also noted recently our our Network Management web
page at http://networkmanagement.comcast.net
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