Metadata, if used correctly, can gather together a wide array of information through connections and assumptions. By reading Kieran Healy’s article “Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere,” I realized how powerful metadata can be, even without specific data. I feel a sense of security seeing how our country’s government uses techniques similar to the ones in Healy’s article to protect the people from terrorist groups or potential terrorist attacks. I also recognize the alarming authority they potentially hold over the lives of the people by generating data on them through metadata assumptions. One of the articles that Healy provides in her own article (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/why-metadata-matters) highlights how much can be revealed through the metadata that the government collects from everyone’s phone calls. Although the assumptions made might be incorrect or based of off coincidence, the possibility and potential of this metadata is nonetheless unnerving.
I have noticed that other sites use a similar strategy of using users metadata to target them by advertisements, related news, etc. I always see links to articles or product advertisements on the side of Facebook that I am generally interested in, which might make some people react in a positive, “Wow, Facebook! You know me so well! You really shouldn’t have!” type of way, but I get a much more uncanny feeling instead. How does Facebook do this? What data are they analyzing? Are they only making these assumptions through metadata? What level of privacy do I have? ASking questions about privacy actually do not make much sense when users like myself are trusting people who have created an online social networking service with endless information about ourselves that could be sold for identity theft purposes, or even worse, given to the government. I found this article online, and although it is over a year old, it answers the question of how the government can gather information on citizens, but questions the privacy of Facebook as well: http://www.propublica.org/article/nsa-data-collection-faq. Facebook revealed private data, or rather metadata (the same kind of information shown in examples of “Why Metadata Matters” by Kurt Opshal–see link above), of many users. Answers concerning privacy aren’t necessarily given through articles or this type of research, but more or less initiates more questioning. My biggest question I’ve had doing this post is: Why Does the Internet Know Me Better than I Do?