4 ms·

What is that as a percentage of the total number of calls?

AnimalMuppet 8y ago
With 300M people in the US? Of them, at least 250M have phones, so... two calls per person per year? (Double it if both ends of the conversation are in the US.) I'm going to guess that the average is more like four calls per day than four calls per year, so... maybe 0.3% of calls? That's far too many. And yet, it's still a very long way from blanket surveillance.
- cm2187 8y ago
  Yeah, but I doubt it is evenly distributed.
  - AnimalMuppet 8y ago
    I doubt it is, too. It's probably seeded - starting with one individual, they collect every call. Maybe for ever person they call, they collect every call that person makes. If they're really worried, they may go one layer further. It's a way of tracing networks. So if one of those people calls you, your call record got collected. If you are one of those people, all of your call records got collected. But hey, NSA, you want to pick me? Trace some of those spammers who keep calling my cell phone.
- ams6110 8y ago
  Heh. I probably get at least half a dozen calls a day. I actually answer only about one a week though.
- jancsika 8y ago
  > That's far too many. Quick clarification of what's being discussed here-- What AnimalMuppet has estimated is that someone or some group in the Dept. of Defense has made a request to analyze call metadata, the sum total of which may come to 0.3% of all calls. In other words, that 0.3% reflects the data that has been parsed into a form intelligible for someone or some group working at (or perhaps even sub-contracted by) the DoD. The amount of call metadata that is available to the NSA for such requests (available either through one of their monstrously large data centers like the one in Utah, or available through one of their many programs that automate access to private companies' metadata) is almost certainly quite close to 100%. You can read about how common usage terms are redefined in misleading ways by the NSA et al here: https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/wordgames#collect https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/wordgames#collect
  - lern_too_spel 8y ago
    > The amount of call metadata that is available to the NSA for such requests (available either through one of their monstrously large data centers like the one in Utah, or available through one of their many programs that automate access to private companies' metadata) is almost certainly quite close to 100%. This is false. Before Obama, they requested and received all call metadata. After Obama, they no longer receive that data. This article is about the number of call records sent to the NSA from the telecoms.

With 300M people in the US? Of them, at least 250M have phones, so... two calls per person per year? (Double it if both ends of the conversation are in the US.) I'm going to guess that the average is more like four calls per day than four calls per year, so... maybe 0.3% of calls? That's far too many. And yet, it's still a very long way from blanket surveillance.

cm2187 8y ago
Yeah, but I doubt it is evenly distributed.
- AnimalMuppet 8y ago
  I doubt it is, too. It's probably seeded - starting with one individual, they collect every call. Maybe for ever person they call, they collect every call that person makes. If they're really worried, they may go one layer further. It's a way of tracing networks. So if one of those people calls you, your call record got collected. If you are one of those people, all of your call records got collected. But hey, NSA, you want to pick me? Trace some of those spammers who keep calling my cell phone.
ams6110 8y ago
Heh. I probably get at least half a dozen calls a day. I actually answer only about one a week though.
jancsika 8y ago
> That's far too many. Quick clarification of what's being discussed here-- What AnimalMuppet has estimated is that someone or some group in the Dept. of Defense has made a request to analyze call metadata, the sum total of which may come to 0.3% of all calls. In other words, that 0.3% reflects the data that has been parsed into a form intelligible for someone or some group working at (or perhaps even sub-contracted by) the DoD. The amount of call metadata that is available to the NSA for such requests (available either through one of their monstrously large data centers like the one in Utah, or available through one of their many programs that automate access to private companies' metadata) is almost certainly quite close to 100%. You can read about how common usage terms are redefined in misleading ways by the NSA et al here: https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/wordgames#collect https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/wordgames#collect
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  > The amount of call metadata that is available to the NSA for such requests (available either through one of their monstrously large data centers like the one in Utah, or available through one of their many programs that automate access to private companies' metadata) is almost certainly quite close to 100%. This is false. Before Obama, they requested and received all call metadata. After Obama, they no longer receive that data. This article is about the number of call records sent to the NSA from the telecoms.