NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Possible Risks in MIT/ISPs Internet Traffic Analysis Study
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 ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ----- End forwarded message -----