The only point that I would consider muddy in either video was the metadata section. I was familiar with all of the concepts in the first video and being a certified teacher have heard everything in the second video each of the ten years that I have taught. “Metadata is often called data about data or information about information.” (Understanding, 2004) In the video the presenter was speaking of tracing someone through the metadata in an email or document. The problem is that “information could be exploited by third party for illegal purposes. Computer users are unaware of the problem and, even though the Internet offers several tools to clean hidden data from documents, they are not widespread.” (Castiglione, 2007) One of those tools can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=8446. This information is used in computer forensics and there are counter forensic programs that will include misinformation to disrupt and confuse the forensics software programs.
Castiglione, A., De Santis, A., & Soriente, C. (2007, May). Taking advantages of a disadvantage: Digital forensics and steganography using document metadata. Journal of Systems and Software, 80(5), 750–764.
(2004). Understanding metadata. Bethesda, MD: NISO Press.
Thank you for your post. When I first viewed the videos this point did not stick out to me, but after reading your post, I see how this point can be muddy. I do agree that data about data can be confusing at times when trying to comprehend material. For example right now my school district has just incorporated the new common core standards and the data that surrounds it is coming from other states that have been using it prior. Therefore that data is being broken down and interpreted by a third party. I also think that when metadata takes place there is an opportunity that the information is being miscrewed or misrepresented. As you mentioned about a possible third party exploiting material, this can always be true and that is obvious when alot of websites state that information can be viewed by a third party.
ReplyDeleteGood post Alan. I had initially planned to post on this....until the Fair Use section of the second video caught it's stride.
ReplyDeleteThe metadata section did a decent job, I felt, of describing the type of data that could be unintentionally published on the internet along with documents. What I did not really see the connection to was why it is important. None of the information the presenter described seemed sensitive or potentially harmful. In fact, the only harm I could see was if an individual were trying to hide the true origin of a document.
If there were a legitimate reason this should be important to me, I failed to understand it.