The other point worth keeping in mind is that NSA can keep this data forever (hence the humoungous cyber farm NSA is building in Utah) --
So a decade from now they can check the metadata to see if it fits some theory a paranoid analyst thinks might have happened half a lifetime ago. bp On Jun 6, 2013, at 1:44 PM, Griffin Boyce <griffinbo...@gmail.com> wrote: > I see a lot of people wondering why metadata matters. "But they > don't know *what* you're doing there!" So I'll give a short example > to illustrate how metadata can be used to not only determine who > someone is talking to, but also to invade their privacy and uncover > the most intimate details of their life. > > Jane is at 16th & L Street for an hour. > Carla is at 16th & L Street for four hours. She's had a short visit > previously. > James is at 16th & L Street for twenty minutes. He comes back at the > same time every week. > Kris is at 16th & L Street for ten hours. > Rick is at 16th & L Street for eight hours every night. > Samantha has been there for three days and four hours. > > 16th & L Street is the address of a Planned Parenthood in Washington, DC. > > Jane is having a physical. > Carla is having an abortion. > James receives his medication there. By visit time, location, and > frequency, he is likely a trans guy. If his appointments were every > two weeks, the metadata would indicate that James is a trans woman. > Kris is protesting there. > Rick works in an office in the same building. > Samantha dropped her phone in the Farragut West Metro Station and > has been looking for it ever since. > > And that's just location data. If one calls a physician every day, > perhaps they have a major medical problem. If a crime happens on the > other side of town, and you suddenly start calling attorneys... did > you do it? There are numerous explanations for either of those > scenarios, but this kind of metadata in isolation can be used to tell > almost any story you want. > > Stay safe out there. > > best, > Griffin Boyce > > -- > Technical Program Associate, Open Technology Institute > #Foucault / PGP: 0xAE792C97 / OTR: sa...@jabber.ccc.de > -- > Too many emails? Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by > emailing moderator atcompa...@stanford.edu or changing your settings > athttps://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
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