Ontario Information And Privacy Commissioner Releases A Primer On Metadata

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (the "Commissioner"), has just released a paper in which she identifies and challenges what she describes as the top three myths relating to the collection of metadata in connection with digital communications.  In A Primer on Metadata: Separating Fact from Fiction, Dr. Ann Cavoukian expresses grave concerns about the effect disclosure of metadata may have on individual privacy rights. 

Metadata is data about data, and is the information generated when a person uses digital devices. Metadata includes, for example, the date and time of calls made from a cell phone and the locations used to access email. While metadata does not in itself reveal content about the user, it can be combined with other information to develop user-specific information. For example, according to the Washington Post,  use of metadata allowed the FBI to confirm that Paula Broadwell, the biographer of CIA Director General David Petraeus, was the