NSA Does Market Research?

We Lefties used to be so much better at sussing out government conspiracy theories.  Perhaps all the fatigue-wearing, “black helicopter” crowd out of Idaho and such places have tainted the idea for us and we have subsequently curtailed our imaginations.  Back in 2002 we all knew W was headed for Baghdad to get his hands on all the oil.  But we failed to look far enough down the line.  Rather than snatching up all that black gold so that it could run freely in the States granting even more profits to the oil companies, his oil baron friends figured that they could make even more money by controlling the spigot, driving prices up by tightening the supply.  We should have seen that one coming.

Now we’re all a twitter over unwarranted surveillance of citizens and, most recently, the collection of billions of records of our phone calls into a “data mine”.  The right-wingers try to placate us with “there’s no ‘wire taps’, it’s just a noting of who called whom and when”.  True enough but hardly assuring.  Even without an exact transcript of each conversation, call patterns tell an awful lot about each of us.  Phone records are generally one of the primary sources of evidence in most white-collar crimes because they reveal so much about the individual.  Imagine what one could learn about folks who require a certain level of privacy to do their jobs such as reporters and law enforcement officials.  And what do the hand-wringing lefties see as waiting just over the horizon?  Smear campaigns against political opponents and their donors.  Eh, it’s possible but I see that as short-sighted and heavy-handed.  In other words, I think the Left is missing the bigger picture yet again.

While data mining is a decent tool for investigation what it really supports best is marketing and management.  Data mining is used to track and understand the behavior of related individuals.  Once you understand and can measure something, you can effectively manage it.  Behaviors are managed either by law enforcement or by marketing.  Sure, a database of phone records could be used nefariously against a political opponent or nosy investigator.  But a far more profitable application would be in measuring and managing any and all of the government’s marketing campaigns.  Are people calling their kids more?  Are they contacting their legislators?  Their clergy?  Has the chatter picked up amongst politically active people?  What connections between groups are formed and/or broken?  Essentially, what is the best way to spread a meme?

And what about the Internet?  Yes, Congress is turning its beady little eyes just who is on the information superhighway and what exits do they take.  As we cede our rights in the original cyberspace of phone conversations, we weaken our ability to stand for our rights on the ‘Net.  We need to start banging on the doors of the Home of the Brave to stand up and stop this nonsense or we’ll no longer be the Land of the Free.

The Wolf Who Cried "Boy...I'd better help out"

For those out there still clinging to the myth of the "liberal media", watch how CNN news anchor Wolf Blitzer scrambles to cover for a glimpse of W looking dim. To be fair, the Prez was obviously distracted by something or someone (maybe a pretty, flashing light?) during a rehearsal. This post is not to catch the Shrub in yet another moment of Dim, but to highlight the craven toadying of the supposed "liberal" media flagship of CNN.

Who's Getting the Shaft of the Data Mine?

Last week a Washington Post/ABC News poll came out claiming that a majority of Americans have no problem with the feds collecting their phone records. That was the headline anyway.  But with all polls, especially those which seem to offer counter-intuitive results, one should investigate further.  Two key facets to explore are the sample used (size & make-up) and the questions asked (both order and content).  In regard to the sample the Post offers this:

“A total of 502 randomly selected adults were interviewed Thursday night for this survey. Margin of sampling error is five percentage points for the overall results. The practical difficulties of doing a survey in a single night represents another potential source of error.”

Someone correct me if I am in error but don’t we usually see sample sizes well over two to three times this size (1200-1800)?  Furthermore, don’t we usually see smaller error margins as well (1.5%-3%)?  Okay, so the work is a bit slapdash, so we’ll take it with a healthy dose of salt.  Now let’s look at the questions:

43. As it conducts the war on terrorism, do you think the United States government is or is not doing enough to protect the rights of American citizens?
                               Doing too      No
             Is     Is not     much (vol.)   opin.
5/11/06      53      45             *          1

44. What do you think is more important right now - (for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, even if that intrudes on personal privacy); or (for the federal government not to intrude on personal privacy, even if that limits its ability to investigate possible terrorist threats)?
            Investigate     Respect      No
             threats       privacy     opin.
5/11/06        65             31         4

45. It's been reported that the National Security Agency has been collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans. It then analyzes calling patterns in an effort to identify possible terrorism suspects, without listening to or recording the conversations. Would you consider this an acceptable or unacceptable way for the federal government to investigate terrorism? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?
             ------- Acceptable ------   ----- Unacceptable ------    No  
             NET   Strongly   Somewhat   NET   Somewhat   Strongly   opin.
5/11/06      63       41         22      35       11         24        2

46. If you found out that the NSA had a record of phone numbers that you yourself have called, would that bother you, or not? IF YES: Would it bother you a lot, or just somewhat?
            -----------Yes------------
            NET     A lot     Somewhat     No     No opin.
5/11/06     34        24         10        66         *

47. Do you think it is right or wrong for the news media to have disclosed this secret government program?
            Right     Wrong     No opin.
5/11/06       56        42          1

Question 44 sets up the false either/or choice of preserving civil liberties versus fighting terrorism and the questions that follow are built upon that theme.  Question 45 posits how the NSA is using this information.  Odd that they don’t mention that we’ve not heard of a single instance where this has proven useful.  For that matter none of the powers granted by the Patriot Act have resulted in any terrorist captures.  And yet, as this polling shows, as long as it looks like the feds are going after them then they can have free reign.  Only about a third of those polled would have any problem at all if they themselves were investigated.

But Koko scratches his furry head wondering: the vast majority of us live our day-to-day lives knowing that we pose no threat to the status quo.  So, track our calls and find out that we like pizza on Friday nights and don’t call our mothers as often as we should.  But what if more pertinent persons were being tracked?  Let’s say maybe reporters or political opponents?  

“Paranoid delusions,” you say?  Let’s hope so but then what are we to make of the FBI’s recent admission that reporters are indeed under scrutiny?   As W’s poll numbers slide ever downward we have to wonder just how far will they go to maintain their grip?  And, just have far HAVE they gone already?

That tin-foil hat is starting to look pretty tempting.