Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 22:39:01 -0400
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [WSFA] More on the NSA: three hops
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Excerpt:
The National Security Agency revealed to an angry congressional panel on
Wednesday that its analysis of phone records and online behavior goes
exponentially beyond what it had previously disclosed.

John C Inglis, the deputy director of the surveillance agency, told a
member of the House judiciary committee that NSA analysts can perform "a
second or third hop query" through its collections of telephone data and
internet records in order to find connections to terrorist organizations.

"Hops" refers to a technical term indicating connections between people. A
three-hop query means that the NSA can look at data not only from a
suspected terrorist, but from everyone that suspect communicated with, and
then from everyone those people communicated with, and then from everyone
all of those people communicated with.
--- end excerpt ---

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/17/nsa-surveillance-house-hearing>

Meaning, for example, that since it's a truism that all of fandom's
separation is three, not six, that all of sf fandom, and those we know,
are being watched.

         mark "even paranoids have real enemies"