ReliefWeb

INTRODUCTION

Mobile phones are now ubiquitous in developing countries, with 89 active subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. Though many types of population data are scarce in developing countries, the metadata generated by millions of mobile phones and recorded by mobile phone operators can enable unprecedented insights about individuals and societies. Used with appropriate restraint, this data has great potential for good, including immediate use in the fight against Ebola. To operate their networks, mobile phone operators collect call detail records—metadata of who called whom, at what time, and from where.

After the removal of names, phone numbers, or other obvious identifiers, this data can be shared with researchers to reconstruct precise country-scale mobility patterns and social graphs. These data have already been used to study importation routes of infectious diseases, migration patterns, or economic transactions. Such data are now being actively sought to inform the fight against Ebola but, despite the promise, this effort appears stalled.