If you know anything about electronic medical records as one of the major issues in healthcare right now, you know that if a case goes to court one of the most important things they are going to request is the META DATA — the story behind the medical record. Meta data about your email and phone calls is just as important, but the NSA would have you believe that it is simultaneously unimportant to your privacy, but critical to their ability to spot bad guys. It cannot be both.
Put another way…
Well stated and thank you for this post!
I’d like to take this a small step further. Let’s say I have your metadata. Getting your name is trivial if I have your phone number. Why should I record that datum when I have the means to look it up?
Also, your conversation? That data is broadcast data, at least while it’s in the air and until it hits the hardwired POTS system. So far, the courts have upheld that intercepting broadcast data is not illegal nor does it require a warrant, as there’s no reasonable expectation of privacy when you shout from the rooftops. So it’s trivially easy to associate the clear text of your phone call with the metadata pertaining to that call.
SO it’s more than a little disingenuous to say no pertinent data is being trapped. That’s technically true, but trapping that extra data is anything but difficult.
Honestly — what is the point of trapping metadata, if you can’t determine the originator?