The eye movement on a screen (eye cracking) is already a popular tool for marketing firms. Some researchers even claim that they can predict your age and gender from looking. Researchers at the University of Luxembourg have looked at another tool likely to reveal your personality: the handling of the mouse. ” Thanks to advances in machine learning, it is now very easy to capture behavioral data at scale by discreetly analyzing their mouse cursor movements. », Confirms Luis Leiva, main author of a study presented on the occasion of the 6e ACM international conference (Association for Computing Machinery).
In another publication, also presented at the conference, the team analyzed different scenarios where users are required to make choices on Internet. For example, they noticed that when an Internet user is interested in an advertisement, this interest is marked by small initial movements of the mouse. Conversely, if a user is about to abandon a page, it is the last movements (excluding clicks) on the page that count. The researchers were thus able to deduce the activity of a user by looking at only two or three seconds of movement mouse, ” which saves a lot of data », Confirms Luis Leiva.
Concerned that their results could create new problems of confidentiality, the researchers also developed a method to distort the coordinates of the mouse in real time, which could be installed as an extension web. However, nothing is planned for voice speakers that record you without your knowledge.
