The Hidden Tracking Power of Metadata
What Is Metadata?
Digital Data Descriptors
If data includes web information, then metadata helps describe it. In other words, metadata gives an overview of an online item’s content. For instance, a blog would contain metadata about the blog’s length, author, and publication date. Similarly, image metadata might include the size of the picture as well as its resolution. This is the case for any other type of online media, such as videos or mp3 files.
How Metadata Is Used Online
Metadata and web browsing
Websites store metadata in the form of metatags. These HTML tags contain details about a webpage, without displaying this information on a web browser. Metatags often include important keywords about a page. If a webpage describes the processes of OSINT investigations, then such keywords might include OSINT, investigations, open source data, and other phrases relevant to that page.
Databases store metatags on the web. Search engines like Google use these databases to access metatags when indexing webpages. The process of indexing webpages helps search engines decide how to organize pages on the web and rank them in order of importance. For creating digital footprints, metadata has a special role: it can tell webpages and online advertisers about your browsing preferences. This type of data will reveal exactly which webpages you visit and for how long. Google, online advertisers, and random websites can then use algorithms to predict your interests, geolocation, and movement patterns.
Metadata and social media
When you write a social media post, you probably include an article link or image you’d like to share with the rest of your followers. Social media sites scrape these shared links and images to obtain metadata about the content. If you post an original image to your Facebook page, the metadata will show the size of the photo, its resolution, and where you snapped it. If you downloaded the image from a different site, the metadata will show the exact time and date of the download.
The Subtle Way You’re Being Tracked
Metadata allows users to find your digital information. The pieces of data attached to the links, photos, videos, or other files you click on will reveal information about you. If metadata makes your digital information searchable, but you don’t want anyone to discover that information, then you must follow managed attribution operational best practices to alleviate these data-tracking risks.
