Last night at midnight data retention laws became active across Australia. This step is regarded either as a necessary to combat terrorism, or an incredibly invasive nationwide breach of privacy, depending on who you listen to.The law requires your telco and internet provider to retain that ubiquitous buzzword—metadata—which is a record of your activity online or over the phone, for up to two years. Leading up to the enactment of the law the Government came under fire for not being able to describe what metadata is. You might recall Attorney General George Brandis completely failing to define it, then sweating a lot.