The half-arsed argument about 'privacy' and data analytics
>Supporters of the National Security Agency inevitably defend its sweeping collection of phone and Internet records on the ground that it is only collecting so-called “metadata” — who you call, when you call, how long you talk. Since this does not include the actual content of the communications, the threat to privacy is said to be negligible.
The military says: "We kill people based on metadata."
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2014/05/10/we-kill-people-based-metadata/