Edinburgh Napier University

  A number of events in the recent years have raised concerns about how private companies and government institutions collect and use metadata about their clients and citizens, from the highly-mediatized National Security Agency and Cambridge Analytica scandals, to the less-known applications tracking the geolocation of your smart phone or your internet browsing history. Metadata can be a double-edge sword. What can metadata reveal about you? It is more revealing than content itself when it comes to your personal information? Should metadata and personal information be given the same levels of privacy protection? Can it also be used to protect your privacy? Are there solutions put in place by both the private and the public sectors to protect your privacy in the metadata about you and your activities? Our panel members will aim at answering these questions and more. After this session, your level of awareness about the role of metadata in your privacy will have increased, as well as your understanding of how metadata can be used for good and for bad.