Co-authored by Patrick Mutchler. Is telephone metadata sensitive? The debate has taken on new urgency since last summer’s NSA revelations; all three branches of the federal government are now considering curbs on access. Consumer privacy concerns are also salient, as the FCC assesses telecom data sharing practices. President Obama has emphasized that the NSA is […]

Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler. MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata. If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating. In earlier posts, we reported how automated analysis of call and text activity can reveal private relationships, as well as how phone subscribers are closely interconnected. “You have my telephone number connecting with your […]

Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler. MetaPhone is a crowdsourced study of phone metadata. If you own an Android smartphone, please consider participating. In an earlier post, we reported how automated analysis of call and text activity can detect private relationships. Does the National Security Agency have court authority to pore over your phone records? Quite possibly.

Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler. Two weeks ago we kicked off the MetaPhone project, a crowdsourced study of phone metadata. Our aim is to inform policy and legal debates surrounding dragnet surveillance programs. We are exceedingly grateful to the hundreds of users who have joined. If you have not yet participated, you can still grab the […]

Original at Stanford CIS. Co-authored with Patrick Mutchler. This is a project of the Stanford Security Lab. We’re studying the National Security Agency, and we need your help. The NSA has confirmed that it collects American phone records. Defenders of the program insist it has little privacy impact and is “not surveillance.” Like many computer […]