As part of an ongoing study at Stanford, computer science doctoral students Jonathan Mayer and Patrick Mutchler have found that collecting highly sensitive information using phone metadata — including a person’s medical condition, firearm ownership, or religious affiliation — is easier than most people may realize.
Watch this Google Hangout between Hari Sreenivasan and Mayer to learn more about their study. Mayer says, even in their small scale experiment they were able to glean a lot of personal information and attach it to a number.
More of their research can be found at Webpolicy.org and you can also check out the chart we showed you during the video chat.
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