It SHOULDN'T take just a phone call, though...a court order is required, though the powers that be seem to find ways around that...

Too much opportunity for abuse.

Is that the metadata has no names or content. Who is contacting all these people? By looking at area codes and googling phone numbers you could determine a city, but that's about it. Why are they contacting these people? Do they contact an abortion clinic because they or someone close to them want an abortion? Perhaps they are anti-abortion. Maybe they are part of the press. Or they could be informed citizens trying to gain more information.

Metadata analysis is an art, not a science.

Of course, I am still not for metadata collection...I'm just saying that fears of metadata abuse are overexaggerated.

Why break the law when they can follow to the letter every initiative passed by a corrupt Executive in Chief?