Metadata, which can include caller and location information, is fairly talkative.
He also questioned the distinction between routing information, or metadata, which can include locations and "content".
The ISC takes an interesting stance on the issue of metadata (which it refers to as "communications data"), the term for the "envelope" of a communication.
What the proposal specifically relates to is "metadata", which is considered be information that does not include the contents of a communication.
GCHQ keeps the content of messages for three working days, and the simple "metadata" – which includes details of who sent and received them – for up to 30 days.
With metadata, which provide you URLs, any individual would be able to figure out how long you spent watching XXX-rated content.
Some technology executives think one middle path would be to encourage the use of encryption for the content of messages while maintaining the ability to hand over metadata, which reveals who is speaking to whom, how often and when.
There are two types – those for the content of calls and messages, and those for the metadata, which can cover the location of a target's device, the times and dates of communications, and the people with whom they communicated.
One of the most contentious elements of the bill is that it allows intelligence services to vacuum up metadata, which would then be subject to analysis for potentially suspicious behaviour.
The company, which owns the internet video calling service Skype, also disclosed that it received fewer than 1,000 orders for metadata – which reveals communications patterns rather than individual message content – related to fewer than 1,000 accounts or identifiers.
The ISC does, however, push back a little against agency definitions of metadata, which in the internet era has blurred with content: in certain circumstances, your exact location, internet history, or even passwords can be classed as metadata.
