"Metadata is information about information. A library’s card catalogue is an example of metadata: it contains details about the library’s books, which themselves are treasure troves of information. Metadata about a phone call can include: who called whom, what date and time the call was placed, each party’s location, and the call’s duration. ...
"Had such metadata been available to the Third Reich, it is easy to imagine that Kelly would have been flagged by encoding 3 (homosexual) on a punched card, arrested, and his death recorded by encoding 4 (execution), having been found guilty by association. There are other explanations for Kelly’s actions that, knowing the conversations’ contents, would lead to completely different interpretations."
"Metadata is information about information. A library’s card catalogue is an example of metadata: it contains details about the library’s books, which themselves are treasure troves of information. Metadata about a phone call can include: who called whom, what date and time the call was placed, each party’s location, and the call’s duration. ...
"Had such metadata been available to the Third Reich, it is easy to imagine that Kelly would have been flagged by encoding 3 (homosexual) on a punched card, arrested, and his death recorded by encoding 4 (execution), having been found guilty by association. There are other explanations for Kelly’s actions that, knowing the conversations’ contents, would lead to completely different interpretations."