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Big Data and the NSA

As most everyone knows, the NSA is compiling meta-data on us all.  This means that phone numbers each of us dials, the origin of the call, and the length of the call are compiled.  Who knows what is compiled about email and  text messages?  Who knows what is happening with social media information, though most anyone can get at this.  The effort is to catch the bad guys before they have a chance to be bad.  There are several arguments of why or why not this is moral, ethical, necessary, or even works.  But it happens now and will continue indefinitely. 

Companies are even more invasive.  When my daughter thought her job was at risk, she began circulating inquiries about other employment.  Her then current employer, apparently reading her email, cautioned her about this.  She stopped making such communications. Just about one year later she was suddenly and abruptly terminated.  Is there a connection? 

Circle  of Friends. Here we have all this data, just sitting on some massive drives somewhere in Utah.  What to do with it?  Here's an idea.  This meta-data source should be made available to sociologist specializing in big-data analysis.  What could be determined are circles of friends, circles of acquaintances, associate acquaintances, orbits of influence.  From the mere meta-data vast information about how a society functions in a social-communication manner is just idly sitting there. Hierarchical relationships can be uncovered. The importance of communication within social strata can be compiled.  And more.  This would open a new and vast field of study of societies.  It could be used to compare civilizations, countries, cities, companies, and many other sub-fields of society.  It could become a detector of the health of a nation.  All of this could be of very great importance. 

So we ask the NSA to open their data banks to reputable researchers.   Sure, make safeguards. Even encrypt the numbers - easy.  There is no need to reveal anything more than the meta-data without identifiers,  and then only for counting, the creation of spreadsheets, and the representation of orbits of association.  It would be a shame to let this massive compiling left only to detect the "needle in the haystack" - rare this is.  It could be used for some genuine good.

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Comparing phone calls and letters - the new vs. the old.   Suppose the USPS (postal service) were set to the task of recording the sender of every letter you receive by the sender?  Outrage, yes.  But suppose they were also opening the letter - not looking at it though they could - and recording the length of the message.  Double outrage! Unthinkable!  But for phone calls, maybe its ok?
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