_{^{Please note that by playing this clip YouTube and Google will place a long term cookie on your computer, and the NSA will probably make note of it, too.}}

Ann Cavoukian, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Ottawa government, is my new hero. Watch her break it down in the video above: why metadata matters.

The NSA, democracy, warrants, "nothing to hide," totalitarianism: she covers it all. Cavoukian made the video to promote her office's new paper on the significance of metadata surveillance, which she describes like this:

A Primer on Metadata: Separating Fact from Fiction, explains that metadata can actually be more revealing than accessing the content of our communications. The paper aims to provide a clear understanding of metadata and disputes popular claims that the information being captured is neither sensitive, nor privacy-invasive, since it does not access any content. Given the implications for privacy and freedom, it is critical that we all question the dated, but ever-so prevalent either/or, zero-sum mindset to privacy vs. security. Instead, what is needed are proactive measures designed to provide for both security and privacy, in an accountable and transparent manner.