Since 2013, a stream of disclosures has prompted reconsideration of surveillance law and policy. One of the most controversial principles, both in the United States and abroad, is that communications metadata receives substantially less protection than communications content. ⋯ In this paper, we attempt to shed light on the privacy properties of telephone metadata. Using a crowdsourcing methodology, we demonstrate that telephone metadata is densely interconnected, can trivially be reidentified, and can be used to draw sensitive inferences.
Jonathan Mayer, Patrick Mutchler, and John C Mitchell.
Security Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; Stanford Law School, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 jmayer@stanford.edu.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2016 May 17; 113 (20): 5536-41.
AbstractSince 2013, a stream of disclosures has prompted reconsideration of surveillance law and policy. One of the most controversial principles, both in the United States and abroad, is that communications metadata receives substantially less protection than communications content. Several nations currently collect telephone metadata in bulk, including on their own citizens. In this paper, we attempt to shed light on the privacy properties of telephone metadata. Using a crowdsourcing methodology, we demonstrate that telephone metadata is densely interconnected, can trivially be reidentified, and can be used to draw sensitive inferences.