Metadata and privacy : Métadonnées et vie privée

A number of recent events in Canada and elsewhere have raised questions about whether and how certain government agencies are collecting and using metadata in the course of their activities. Metadata collection programs in the United States and Canada have recently been the subject of much media discussion. Whilesuch data may be created and used lawfully in both the public and private sector subject to appropriate legal restrictions and conditions, there appears to be an enduring debate as to what metadata is, what it can reveal and how it should be treated in the absence of an express statutory provision. We continue to see notableindividuals and various organizations taking the view that metadata is to be distinguished from actual communications content, and is therefore less worthy of privacy protection.