Malte Spitz: Your phone company is watching
Malte Spitz: Tu compañía telefónica está mirando
Malte Spitz asked his cell phone carrier what it knew about him -- and mapped what he found out. Full bio
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Malte Spitz - Politician, data activistMalte Spitz asked his cell phone carrier what it knew about him -- and mapped what he found out.
Why you should listen
German Green Party politician Malte Spitz is an expert on digital change and privacy.
In 2009, Spitz went to court to obtain the information that his cell phone operator, Deutsche Telekom, gathered (and kept) about his activity. The results astonished him. Over the course of six months, they had tracked his geographical location and what he was doing with his phone more than 35,000 times. Working with the German online news site Zeit Online, an infographic was created that shows Spitz's activity across an interactive timeline, combined DT's geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and website. By pushing the play button, viewers can set off on a detail-rich trip through six months of his life. And more, because he keeps asking the telecom company for his most recent data.
Spitz is the author of the book What Are You Doing with My Data? and has contributed to international publications, such as the New York Times and The Guardian. Spitz lives with his wife and two kids in Berlin.
Malte Spitz | Speaker | TED.com