1. There is no evidence so far that in this case it is only metadata. In the US there are (minimal) constraints on opening communications of "US persons" to access their content, but even those constraints would not apply to anyone outside the US or non-US nationals anywhere in the world (eg, everyone on BAExpats). Sorry the article is only in Brasilian, but that's why god invented the googletranslate.
2. Your comparison to the Hubble is directly contradicted by William Binney, the NSA official who designed the NSA's Trailblazer database. According to Binney, metadata is more intrusive than content because it enables the gov't (or anyone else who eventually gets the technology) to literally reconstruct every movement subjects make and every relation they have.
...And as for o Globo, I agree the globe is in deep doodoo.