Cyrus Farivar reports:
Since November 2013, researchers at Stanford University have been asking: What’s in your metadata?
Specifically, the study encouraged volunteers who also used Facebook to install an app called MetaPhone on their Android phones. The app was designed to act as a sort of slimmed-down version of the National Security Agency by attempting to gather the same metadata collected by telecom firms, and in turn, intelligence agencies. Volunteers who chose to participate allowed the researchers access to their calling and texting data, the date and time, and the duration of the call.
Since late last year, the team has been releasing interim results from the 546 people that chose to participate. On Wednesday, the team released its latest and most complete findings and was startled by what it found.
Read more on Ars Technica.