The Uncertainty of Identity: Linking Spatiotemporal Information Between Virtual and Real Worlds

This is an interdisciplinary proposal from Computer Science (St. Andrews), Engineering (City University London) and Geography (UCL), in partnership with experts in Visual Analytics at Purdue University in the United States. Our goal is to link information pertaining to human characteristics in 'real' and 'virtual' worlds in order to better manage the uncertainties inherent in establishing human identity and linking it to geographic locations. Our basic premise is that uncertainty in identifying and characterising individuals may be managed and understood by: (a) detecting and exploring spatio-temporal profiles of lifestyles and activity patterns; (b) concatenating and conflating detailed, but under-exploited, datasets in the virtual and real domains; and, more speculatively (c) soliciting and analysing crowd-sourced volunteered data that link physical and virtual identities. Through these actions it will be possible to improve our ability to characterize and validate an individual's identity, to infer more informative profiles of individuals and groups that bridge the real and virtual domains, and to document and manage the uncertainties inherent in these tasks. Aspects of this highly innovative research agenda are inevitably risky and speculative, but following an EPSRC 'WDYTYA' Sandpit we have appraised risk, examined the feasibility of data acquisition and addressed ethical approval issues.

The research will require multiple sources of data about a user's online activities (henceforth 'virtual' sources, such as multiple social networks, commercial information, purchases, etc.) alongside more conventional data (henceforth 'real' sources: population censuses, names registers, telephone directories, social surveys, etc.). Systematic linkage will be used to better resolve the question "Who do I think you are?" We propose the exploitation of complementary databases and methods in order to relate 'real' and 'virtual' properties, to glean, synergise and cross validate new information and to leverage value from secondary sources. This will be achieved by developing novel methods of data collection, maintenance, exploration, analysis and modelling, that are efficient, effective, scalable, and safe to use.

The work programme will be undertaken through a programme of six inter-linked work packages in the UK and US, viz:

Work Package 1: Data Collection Tools
The development of new and effective tools for virtual data collection

Work Package 2: Text Analytics
Development of text analytics algorithms to describe clusters of concepts, or associations between certain concepts or named entities.

Work Package 3: Data Anonymisation and Privacy Preservation
Achieving a balance between the benefits of enhanced data collection (Work Package 1) and text mining (Work Package 2) versus the imperatives of preserving individual privacy.

Work Package 4: Cybergeodemographics
Use of primary (Work Packages 1 and 2) and secondary data to relate virtual Internet traffic to the probable physical locations from which it emanated; and the development of typologies of social networks that are robust, generalized and related to physical locations.

Work Package 5: Spatio-temporal Network Analysis
Development and application of spatio-temporal network analysis techniques to emerging social and geographic networks of individuals and the systems used by them.

Work package 6: Visual Analytics
Deployment of a range of visual exploratory data analysis techniques to alert users to deviations from trend or average behaviour and profile. http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/UncertaintyOfIdentity/index.html

An essential element of the research programme is engagement with the government intelligence services, the Home Office and Homeland Security departments both in the UK and USA. We will address the concerns of UK and USA stakeholders in establishing the identity of citizens, not least in the interests of national security. This will provide key opportunities to develop effective working relationships and end use of the work in the UK and US.

Government bodies (GCHQ, Home Office, CPNI, US Department of Homeland Security) and potential commercial software partners will be kept informed through the project of the benefits of responding to the technical and socio-economic challenges facing the accurate establishment of the identity of citizens in the UK, USA and India. This will enhance their ability to deliver effective solutions and will also expose them to a range of emerging technologies.

There are unique opportunities through this project to engage with the complex socio-technical issue of identity, and to undertake a number of high profile public engagement activities. We envisage that the websites that will be developed for the project will attract up to one million unique users per annum throughout the lifetime of the project. This will be driven largely through interest in the geo-genealogy of family names in the 'real' world, and we will use the sites to develop corresponding interest in the geographies of digital differentiation in people's ability to access and use NICTs, to seek information, to conduct transactions, and to participate in online communities.

In the same spirit, the mobile application for data collection will also attract a considerable number of users. We will invite people to use the applications through social network websites and mobile application store (such as Apple App Store and Android Market), reaching younger generations in particular. The information collected through the mobile application will be made available to the general public through the dedicated websites but also by means of the mobile application itself and others specifically designed for social networking websites (e.g. a Facebook application). These innovative initiatives will stimulate awareness in the public about the problem of identification and the related issues both from a societal and a technological point of view.

The project is supported by the involvement of GCHQ, CPNI, and Home Office in the UK and the Department of Homeland Security in the USA. This direct involvement of the stakeholders in the project will greatly help to exploit the tools and technologies that we plan to develop. The exploitation of technologies developed from the project will be enabled and supported by the consortium agreement that will be established among the partners at the beginning of the project.

The algorithms for identification of outliers may be suitable for use in commercial products and we will take steps to make contact with potential commercial partners, as well as relevant government agencies. We have established links with British Telecommunications Security practice to pilot some of our developed algorithms. BT has been working in the area of customer data mining for the last few years to understand the threats that are posed to the information infrastructure. They have recently acquired a company called Counterpane which collects alarm data from customer devices such as hosts, routers and switches. The developed algorithms can be tested using some of the BT's proprietary data under non-disclosure agreements. BT is also working closely with CPNI to develop an intelligent visualization tool for the monitoring of critical national infrastructure threats.

We also plan to offer advice to governmental agencies about requirements and procurement of systems for identification, including algorithms and techniques developed in this project.