8 ENABLING HUMANITARIAN USE OF MOBILE PHONE DATA

Mobile phones are now ubiquitous in developing countries, with eighty-nine active subscriptions per one hundred inhabitants.
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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.
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