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Computing value of spatiotemporal information

Published: 21 August 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Location data from mobile devices is a sensitive yet valuable commodity for location-based services and advertising. We investigate the intrinsic value of location data in the context of strong privacy, where location information is only available from end users via purchase. We present an algorithm to compute the expected value of location data from a user, without access to the specific coordinates of the location data point. We use decision-theoretic techniques to provide a principled way for a potential buyer to make purchasing decisions about private user location data. We illustrate our approach in three scenarios: the delivery of targeted ads specific to a user's home location, the estimation of traffic speed, and the prediction of location. In all three cases, the methodology leads to quantifiably better purchasing decisions than competing approaches.

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Published In

cover image Communications of the ACM
Communications of the ACM  Volume 63, Issue 9
September 2020
90 pages
ISSN:0001-0782
EISSN:1557-7317
DOI:10.1145/3419453
Issue’s Table of Contents
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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 21 August 2020
Published in CACM Volume 63, Issue 9

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