Putting aside the jabs at the NSA, etc. at the end of the
article linked below, I think the article does a good job of expressing why the metadata we
leave behind on the Internet is far more valuable/dangerous than the specific content
we openly create and communicate on the Internet. Also,
the article seems to reinforce my contention there is no such thing as anonymous metadata. All metadata of sufficient quality and quaintly
can be fingerprinted and used to identify specific individuals and their
relationships to other entities. Even the metadata generated around the use of encryption is fingerprintable.
You don’t
need to know someone’s name, birthdate, address, driver’s license, bank account,
or SSN to know everything thing else about them; to know who they are and how
to take advantage of them. This is why I
wish as a society we were a little more paranoid about what we share online,
who we share it with, and what tools and services we use online. Almost every entity on the Internet believes
they have the right to collect quality metadata in sufficient quantities for it
to be highly valuable for their needs.
There is no such thing as anonymous metadata and privacy.
The Article of Interest:
