To connect the dots, you have to see the dots (Steyn)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | Mark Steyn

[croak]

Here are two news stories from the end of last week. The first one you may have heard about. As "The Today Show's" Matt Lauer put it:

"Does the government have your number? This morning a shocking new report that the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans."

The second story comes from the United Kingdom and what with Lauer's hyperventilating you may have missed it. It was the official report into the July 7 bus and Tube bombings. As The Times of London summarized the conclusions:

"Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the bomb cell, had come to the attention of MI5 [Britain's domestic intelligence agency] on five occasions but had never been pursued as a serious suspect . . .

"A lack of communication between police Special Branch units, MI5 and other agencies had hampered the intelligence-gathering operation;

"There was a lack of co-operation with foreign intelligence services and inadequate intelligence coverage in . . ."

[Roscoe Karns]

Thanks for ping. I'd like to see Steyn on the tube more.(saw him once on Cspan). He says he doesn't want to do the Crossfire-type scream matches, and I don't blame him, but I'd like to see him sit down alone with, say, Larry King for a full hour. (instead of that jackass Bill Maher, who's on King's show so often he's practically a co-host--or better yet, I'd like to see him on with Bill Maher, shoving Maher's BS back down his throat). He'd be great.

Mark Steyn should be a household name.

[MizSterious]

Great column, thanks for the ping! I wish some of the talking heads could speak as clearly as Steyn on this topic.

[RicocheT]

MARK STEYN has an excellent description of the data mining and why it's not a privacy issue. Terror and criminal investigations rely on a lot of connect the dots data.

These phone records show all numbers dialed everywhere and are not connected with identities. The connect the dots comes in when you use a Known bad guy's phone number and run all the calls it made to other numbers.

If bomber Ali often called one number in Detroit, is it a falafel place for food or is the guy running it Ali's secret banker?

The FBI needs the number frequency as sufficient cause to ask a judge to get a warrant to go in and check the falafel place's bank and financial records. At the warrant point it is a privacy issue and the judge is the screen on the cop's behavior.

[GOPJ]

By definition, "connecting the dots" involves getting to see the dots...

Sounds like a "tag" to me.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[kAcknor]

Good ping. Thanks!

[Gritty]

If you seek to weaken, demoralize and bleed to death the United States and its allies, you can only do it asymmetrically -- by killing thousands of people and then demanding a criminal trial, by liaising with terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan and then demanding the government cease inspecting your phone records.

Excellent Steyn ping!

[cwb]

"MARK STEYN has an excellent description of the data mining and why it's not a privacy issue. Terror and criminal investigations rely on a lot of connect the dots data. These phone records show all numbers dialed everywhere and are not connected with identities."

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Yes...and he does a great job of exposing the hypocrisy of liberals, who, with their race-conscience attitudes, should see nothing wrong with including most, if not all Americans. I can only imagine the outrage from these same people if it were just the Mohammed's being tracked. Then again, we don't even know these identities so this shouldn't even be an issue...frickin' hypocrites.

[Tolik]

I don't need that high blood pressure watching Bill Maher without being able to confront him. But, you are right of course: Mark Steyn is one of that rare talents who brings clarity into the situation AND does it with his trademark delicious language.

[Brian Allen]

Thank you.