This highlights the almost omnipresence of metadata as well as the possibilities of working with it. This idiosyncrasy means that the data contained within all images taken with that device, data one would usually ignore and is invisible to the human eye, becomes a digital ‘finger print’ identifying all images taken with that particular CCD chip. He explains that all of these chips, known as Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) chips, basically light-sensitive circuits, come with minor factory flaws that are unique to the individual CCD chip. To illustrate this point, McCarthy describes a small chip contained within all digital cameras which tracks all the metadata of that device. PDF files, images, word documents, all have some metadata associated with them unless it has been intentionally scrubbed.” Interview with Exposing the Invisible, Smári McCarthy, head of the technology team on the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, says that “every information source has metadata, sometimes it is very explicit, created as part of the documentation process of creating the data. Metadata is often called data about data or information about information.

The only differences are in the content of the metadata, and how it refers to the ‘thing‘ being described.” Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, locates or otherwise simplifies the retrieval, usage or management of an information resource. It is possible to describe a file on a computer in exactly the same way asone would describe a piece of art on a wall, a person on a job, or a place on a map. Service provides the following definition: “Metadata can actually be applied to anything. Such multimedia-related metadata is also known as EXIF data, which stands for Exchangeable Image File Format. Similarly in the digital sphere, a digital image may contain information about the camera that took the image, the date and time of the image, and often the geographic coordinates of where it was taken.

The small cards stacked in library drawers provide the title of the book, publication date, author(s) and location on the library shelves. Metadata can be understood as a modern version of traditional book cataloguing.

We will then focus on exactly what metadata is contained within what format and introduce tools to extract, strip and add metadata. This guide looks at how metadata has been used to expose, protect and verify abuses and excesses of power.

A guide that looks at how metadata has been used to expose, protect

Jeffreys exif data viewer