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That's one of the weakest attempts to justify illegal and unconstitutional actions I've seen. > Metadata is not the content of the calls but the data that the

That's one of the weakest attempts to justify illegal and unconstitutional actions I've seen. > Metadata is not the content of the calls but the data that the users put out to the world. So when I make a call to my private friends, that's "me putting data into the world"? And it is ok for everyone to read it because I did not write it on a paper and instead used the phone? That's how you treat the constitution's "persons, houses, papers, and effects"? Really? This is not how most people would even think about their information. There is nothing vague about it.

vonwoodson 6y ago
If you use a third party to transmit data, then yes. If it’s not literally “in the envelope” then it’s public data. Weak argument or not, that’s how the laws work. Think about that very hard next time you type something into the Google search box/make a phone call/send a letter/post something on hacker news. Oh, and it’s not the Big Bad Government that is collecting the metadata. Companies like Verizon sell this data. God bless privatization, right? And, I’ve literally heard the phrase “If we don’t buy this data, then they’ll just sell it to our adversaries.” Which I believe to be 100% true.