metadata analysis
MET-uh-day-tuh uh-NAL-ih-sis
ˈmɛtədeɪtə əˈnæləsɪsListen
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Dictionary meaning
the examination of data about data — information such as who communicated with whom, when, from where, for how long, and how frequently — rather than the content of communications, to draw inferences about individuals' relationships, habits, beliefs, activities, and intentions; a former NSA director famously stated we kill people based on metadata, illustrating the life-or-death stakes of metadata analysis in national security contexts; metadata can be more revealing than content: a pattern of calls to an oncologist, a support group, and a pharmacist tells a story without a single word of content being read; in the post-Snowden era, metadata analysis has become central to debates about surveillance, intelligence accountability, and the inadequacy of content-focused privacy protections in the digital age
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