2 ms·

>... such as email subject lines and other metadata ... How could subject lines possibly be considered metadata? It is quite clearly content.

• rco8786 10y ago
  At some point, some court will just decide that the email body constitutes meta data
• Kristine1975 10y ago
  Technically speaking, they are part of the mail header along with metadata such as date, recipient, priority etc.
• slantedview 10y ago
  Because calling them metadata provides the government with an argument that minimizes their importance, thereby allowing them to be exploited for nefarious purposes in the same way that calling torture "enhanced interrogation techniques" allows it to be exploited for nefarious purposes. And so we get stuck arguing over the definitions of words instead of the actual actions being performed under those definitions.
  • Kristine1975 10y ago
    "We Kill People Based on Metadata" -- former NSA and CIA director Michael Hayden Bruce Schneier's take on the distinction between "data" and "metadata": https://www.wired.com/2015/03/data-and-goliath-nsa-metadata-spying-your-secrets/ https://www.wired.com/2015/03/data-and-goliath-nsa-metadata-...
  • 1024core 10y ago
    .. and because "metadata" is something most people don't understand.