{"id":12409,"date":"2020-08-16T21:50:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T01:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=12409"},"modified":"2020-08-18T14:35:45","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T18:35:45","slug":"metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Metadata Surveillance: Hidden Trackers Are Everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How do you define metadata? What is a metadata example? How does metadata surveillance work? Are there laws that define metadata surveillance and its permissibility?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Metadata is information about how content is made.<\/strong> Metadata surveillance is a useful tool in mass surveillance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Learn more about the metadata definition with metadata examples, as well as Ed Snowden&#8217;s concerns around metadata surveillance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Metadata Definition: Where Does Metadata Come From?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Your devices are constantly and automatically creating and emitting metadata. If someone is surveilling you and has access to your metadata, they know your routines and where you are at all times. They can predict your behavior. (In theory. Using data to predict people\u2019s behavior isn\u2019t very accurate and is, in fact, more like manipulation. For example, the government might try to predict what you\u2019ll do based on the pattern of what you\u2019ve done, the same way a website might suggest a book you\u2019d like because you\u2019ve read a different book. This is less prediction and more like getting you to do an action you\u2019re presented with.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Metadata Example: Phone Call<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>If you make a phone call, the metadata is how long the call was, the time and date, the numbers on the call, and where the phones were at the time of the call.&nbsp;<strong>In terms of mass surveillance, metadata is more useful than exact transcripts of your phone calls<\/strong> because it helps the NSA narrow down whom to target. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Metadata Example: Email<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, if you send an email to an organization that the NSA is interested in, they might become interested in you. Ironically, the law protects content more than metadata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Metadata Surveillance Laws<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2001 Patriot Act allowed the government to ask the FISA Court to force third parties to give them information on anything that could be considered \u201crelevant\u201d to terrorism or foreign intelligence. This was interpreted to mean the NSA could collect telephone metadata from American telecoms every day forever on the grounds that one day, some of that information might be \u201crelevant.\u201d&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In late 2012, laws about mass surveillance were under fire. Both the UK and Australian governments were proposing legislation about recording metadata. These laws were pitched as security measures.&nbsp;<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Edward Snowden and Metadata Surveillance Concerns<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Ed and the NSA disagree on the treatment of metadata. Ed read the Constitution closely. The Fourth Amendment in particular resonated with him, because it covered privacy. Ed considers all data, including metadata, as \u201ceffects.\u201d Phones, clouds, and computers are like our \u201chomes\u201d and Ed believes they should be given the same privacy protections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do you define metadata? What is a metadata example? How does metadata surveillance work? Are there laws that define metadata surveillance and its permissibility? Metadata is information about how content is made. Metadata surveillance is a useful tool in mass surveillance. Learn more about the metadata definition with metadata examples, as well as Ed Snowden&#8217;s concerns around metadata surveillance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,24],"tags":[116],"class_list":["post-12409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication","category-society","tag-permanent-record","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Metadata Surveillance: Hidden Trackers Are Everywhere - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Metadata is information about how content is made. Metadata surveillance is a part of mass surveillance. Learn more with metadata examples and issues.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Metadata Surveillance: Hidden Trackers Are Everywhere\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Metadata is information about how content is made. Metadata surveillance is a part of mass surveillance. Learn more with metadata examples and issues.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-17T01:50:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-18T18:35:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/permanent-record-metadata-surveillance.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1156\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"697\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"Metadata Surveillance: Hidden Trackers Are Everywhere\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-17T01:50:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-18T18:35:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/permanent-record-metadata-surveillance.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Permanent Record\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Communication\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/\",\"name\":\"Metadata Surveillance: Hidden Trackers Are Everywhere - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/metadata-surveillance-laws-concerns\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/permanent-record-metadata-surveillance.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-17T01:50:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-18T18:35:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"Metadata is information about how content is made. 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