Privacy for Internet users is a very important factor. Many factors come into play here that can have a negative influence. In this article we are going to talk about what metadata is , what types are there and what they are really used for. We will see what relationship they can have with data privacy when browsing the net.
What is metadata
Metadata has always been closely tied to privacy. After all, they are data, information in short. They are difficult to hide. We can say that they are data from data. For example, when entering a web page such as this article, the metadata collects information about when an article has been published, the language, image links, the number of words …
When a user requests this metadata when entering an article, they are sharing information such as the time or the IP address (either the real one or that of a VPN service that we are using).
Keep in mind that metadata is very useful because it reduces the amount of information that is needed to process a file. This makes especially large files easily manageable.
Metadata and privacy
It must be said that yes, metadata could also be a threat to our privacy . In many cases they can include a large amount of information that identifies us.
Metadata, among other things, could show information about where we’ve been or what device we’re using. We are talking, for example, of a photograph we have taken. It could contain information about the camera or phone from which it was taken, the date and time, as well as the exact coordinates of the place.
Many types of information that metadata collect can be stored and analyzed by Internet service providers. In this way, they could, for example, show us advertising oriented to our tastes and interests. Now, that information, that personal data that they can collect, could also be used against us in some way.
This metadata could be used by hackers to carry out custom phishing attacks , among other things. They would have a greater knowledge about the victim, about what services we use, to find a way to attack with a greater probability of success.
What data can we expose? They can be very varied, but we can name the location, the software we use, the hardware that our team has, social networks in which we have logged in, data related to our connection (IP address, provider, download speed … ), image data, etc.
Types of metadata
Mainly we can say that there are two types of metadata: structural and descriptive. In both cases they collect information and, in some way, could affect the privacy of users.
If we start by explaining what structural metadata are, we can say that they are those that collect information related to how the data is stored. It is data that can be easily observed, that shows information that can be calculated. For example, the metadata of a call could be the duration of the call. If we look at a photograph, the data could be the size and type of file.
Regarding the descriptive metadata , they show additional information that can help users and also computer teams to learn about those files that we are observing. For example, in an image it would be the software used, the exposure time, the brightness, etc. In a phone call you would include who made that call, who you called, and from where.
Ultimately, metadata can reveal user information. They could identify us online if, for example, we share an image that carries data. In a certain way and depending on the circumstances, they could put privacy at risk. As we always say, it is very important that we preserve the data, that we do not compromise privacy when browsing the Internet.