What is metadata?
Metadata is data about your data. Not what you write, but: when, with whom, how often, from where, with which device.
A concrete example
Imagine someone only sees your phone connection records:
- You call an abortion clinic
- At 8:15 AM
- From your workplace
- Three times this week
- Each time 15+ minutes
Nobody heard the conversation. But everyone knows what's going on.
What metadata reveals
Your location
Every message contains your IP address. With WiFi data: accurate to the meter.
Your social network
Who you communicate with, how often, at what times. Your entire relationship network, reconstructable.
Your daily routine
When you wake up, work, sleep. All readable from your communication behavior.
Countermeasures
Signal instead of WhatsApp
Signal uses "Sealed Sender" — the server doesn't know who sent the message. Minimal metadata.
Use a VPN
Hides your IP and location. Your ISP sees only encrypted traffic.
Tor for maximum anonymity
Tor routes through three servers worldwide. Nobody knows both origin and destination.