Media Morons

The Ragister ran an article from Brian Bergstein, Technology writer for the Associated Press, questioning whether the N.S.A. could uncover terrorists via data mining. He questions, "Can terrorists be spotted by analyzing who calls whom and when-without any other leads? There are vastly more groups of 19 people organizing soccer games and bake sales than there are teams like the 19 hijackers of Sept. 11." He quotes a consultant of social network analysis and a chief scientist of an entity analyctics unit for IBM. The gist of the article can be summed up in the last paragraph. "Merely mapping who Americans call probably wouldn't uncloak a terrorist cell". I'm not sure why it's sooo difficult for the media to understand but, it's international calls originating from the U.S.! I doubt there are many international calls placed organizing soccer games or bake sales! I don't know exactly how the N.S.A. is running the program, but as a technically challenged person, here's how I can imagine it being done. You record which numbers are calling certain areas, let's just say where terrorists have assembled in the past, and then look for patterns there. If patterns arise then go to the F.I.S.A. court for a warrant to tap the calls. I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but maybe that'll help the mental midgets in the media wrap their mind around the concept.