Author: May Offermans, Yvonne Gootzen, Edwin de Jonge, Jan van der Laan, Frank Pijpers, Shan Shah, Martijn Tennekes, Peter-Paul de Wolf. Publication date: 26/02/2021 12:07

Pilot Study: Mobile Phone Meta Data Records – Introduction to the research method

5. Conclusion

This pilot has shown that it is possible to produce good estimates based on anonymised aggregated mobile phone data. In the future, these could provide important information for policy and science in areas such as tourism, mobility and the environment. Privacy was also investigated extensively. This research shows that with this method it is not possible to determine the location of a device with reasonable certainty, even in a situation where the attacker has access to an unrealistic amount of information. 
With the aggregated information published from this method it is impossible to determine the location of individual devices with certainty. This information is therefore anonymous for an attacker, even if he has a lot of additional information at his disposal.