Talk on Mobile Data Integrity

Yesterday I spoke on a panel about mobile data integrity. The idea was to have a conversation about how international development projects using mobile phones for data collection can ensure that the integrity of the data they collect isn’t compromised in any way. Many people in the information and communications technology for development (ICT4D) community are focused on security challenges related to technology: phones that can be remotely wiped, devices that help you avoid government detection, and so on. These are hard engineering problems and deserve attention from computer scientists right now.

At the same time, there are many use cases where people are implementing these projects in contexts that aren’t politically or socially repressive, where they aren’t necessarily under surveillance or participating in anti-government protests. They need guidance on how to implement their projects safely, guidance on how to use today’s tools right now.

During the discussion I focused on how to think about data integrity during program design, training, and implementation. A few key themes from the talk...