To put it bluntly, metadata is hidden data that can fuck you over. Fuck you over real hard and rough like, savvy? Often defined as “data about data,” metadata is information about a specific file that’s often included within the file itself but that’s often not readily visible or modifiable to the end-user when z is viewing the file in the standard application that z would typically use to view the file. In other words, metadata provides background information about a file. Chances are that every document you create, every digital photograph you take, every music file you download, and so on, all have little bits of metadata which can leak vital information about your identity. ~ The dangers of metadata, 2008

Surveillance and censorship go hand in hand, what else would surveillance be for other than to keep subjects obedient.

• Surveillance is carried out by just about everybody, parents, teachers, neighbours, organised private groups, corporations and governments, and we are not helpless, we can avoid surveillance as best as we can.
• Likewise, censorship can be carried out by everybody as well. And we can try to circumvent censorship as long as we also protect ourselves from prying eyes on what we are doing.

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Raw magic crackled from their spines, earthing itself harmlessly in the copper rails nailed to every shelf for that very purpose. Faint traceries of blue fire crawled across the bookcases and there was a sound, a papery whispering, such as might come from a colony of roosting starlings. In the silence of the night the books talked to one another. A student