> And, by the way, I hate the term "metadata." What's wrong with "traffic analysis," which is what we've always called that sort of thing?
This has also been bugging me. Metadata is a very general term, and it doesn't explain what the NSA claims its doing (whether they're doing anything else is beside this particular point). Moreover, the use of such a general term seems like it's part of the propaganda, to make us less scared: "We're not collecting data, we're collecting meta-data." Well, it turns out that they are one and the same anyway.
This has also been bugging me. Metadata is a very general term, and it doesn't explain what the NSA claims its doing (whether they're doing anything else is beside this particular point). Moreover, the use of such a general term seems like it's part of the propaganda, to make us less scared: "We're not collecting data, we're collecting meta-data." Well, it turns out that they are one and the same anyway.