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Meta data slippery slope begins
We are all suspected terrorists now, you, me, and the Nana down the road. The government has now opened up meta data (stored for 2 years) searches to 85 different agencies.
So what exactly is meta data, and why should you care?
Meta data is everything except the content of the information exchange. Lets just say you rang a friend and said
“Hey, lets get a coffee at the place we always go to”
So that line is the content, everything else is the context (meta data).
Time of call
from whom to whom
was it SMS/voice call/skype/instant message/email.
location of each participant in the message. (GPS/reverse IP)
personal identifier IP address/ IMEI/MAC address/SIM
device type, phone, mobile phone, PC,tablet, payphone.
Then there is the meta-meta data. This is the information that can be derived from a history of stored meta data
Frequency and pattern of communications.
Network of contacts
Times at which you frequently communicate
Places where you are frequently (GPS/MAC address/SIM)
And all of this applies to your contacts as well.
This may seem like an unweildly mess of information to sort through, but massive banks of supercomputers are ready and waiting to pass judgement on you.
When you consider the complete picture that can be obtained the content of the call seems like the least sensitive part of the picture, and to some extent you are right, but that will be the next thing they want in this ever more comprehensive surveillance picture.
If we consider that 340,000 requests were made last year for meta data, and we assume each request was for a different resident, that means that 1.5% of the population had their meta data searched just last year.
Google has huge amounts of internet data and meta data and has recently purchased from DARPA/Boston Dynamics PETMAN and other robotics technology
