Computers May Have Found Yet Another Way to Identify You
According to a study new Digital Investigation study, computer models that track your typing habits can predict your gender IFLScience.com reports. The technique is called “keystroke dynamics” and functions similarly to Facebook’s facial recognition feature, “but instead of creating a ‘template’ based on your tagged photos, the program tracks your keystrokes,” Madison Dapcevich writes. The researchers used a program called “ISqueezeU” to collect data from 75 volunteers over 10 months.
They tracked things like flight time (the time between releasing one key and pressing the next), dwell time (how long a key is pressed down), how often mistakes were made in typing, and how often words are deleted. The team found the computer could accurately predict the typers gender over 78% of the time, with the time between pressing the “N” and “O” keys being the most helpful clue.
IFLScience reports that the researchers want to expand the sample size to determine whether education or handedness affects accuracy.
