If you are like most people, you probably worry about privacy when you post a photo or comment on social media. Soon, DataBait could do the worrying for you by analyzing the risks before new content is published. List developed the new software as part of EU project USEMP to enhance the protection of personal information online.

IT specialists, sociologists, and legal experts collaborated on this multidisciplinary project to bring users profiling tools as powerful as those used by the social networks themselves. "The idea is to make sure that users are aware of the information that can be mined from what they post on social media, and how their information can potentially be used."

List contributed to the project by developing image recognition and analysis tools and text mining technology. The former leverage the use of neural networks (an area in which List has built up renowned expertise); the latter is based on sophisticated comparative processing techniques.

The first version of the software is currently undergoing validation testing. List is seeking partners to take the tool beyond the EU project that facilitated its development.

*Conference organized by the European Commission in Lisbon on October 20–22, 2015.