Administration apologists, right wing pundits and some just plain ignorant people are trying to dismiss the revelation of the NSA database of domestic phone calls as unimportant because information on individuals and the conversations themselves are not collected.
The concerns about the invasion of privacy, the possible misuse of personal data, the monitoring of individual phone calls are all dismissed because the NSA and the administration are only going to use this information for social network analysis. Nothing to worry about, see!
Do not be alarmed. Be very, very frightened.
Social Network Analysis, despite its academic and impersonal sounding name is probably the most dangerous use of this information and is a far greater danger to our democracy than the monitoring of individual phone calls.
The invasion of an individuals privacy, monitoring of phone calls, the use or misuse of personal financial, medical, sexual information is frightening but it largely targets an individual. While this is not ethical, constitutional or, desirable the effects are local and many assume that since they have nothing to hide it will not affect them.
Social Network Analysis has the capability to target and exploit segments of society and disrupt the communications and relationships between groups of people. Despite the fact that you may have nothing individually to hide, you are part of several social networks. You are participating in one right now, Dkos.
Network analysis looks at nodes and links. In social network analysis, the nodes are individuals, groups, you, etc. and the links are your interactions with others. Some nodes have more connections than others, these people are change or opinion leaders. Some nodes have connections between more than one group, they may enable communication or cooperation between groups. The characteristics of an individual in this type of analysis are not as important as the links to others that they have
To someone seeking to target or disrupt a network that you belong to, information about your social network is extremely valuable.Think of the networks you belong to, Dkos, possibly the democratic party, your church, etc.
Some possible examples of how social network analysis can be used:
Resistance to the NSA phone call database identified to be highest in several social networks that show an increase in activity that coincide with revelations in the press. High value nodes are identified as thought leaders for these social networks and the IRS point count to determine who gets audited is increased for these people. This will reduce the time these thought leaders have to devote to organizing resistance.
The administration realizes that its next environmental initiative, the Healthy Rivers Act which will turn enforcement of discharge regulations over to Halliburton, is likely to be unpopular with environmental groups. Social network analysis shows which of these groups have the largest number of connections with swing voters and these groups are targeted for highly publicized SEC investigations prior to the announcement of the initiative.
Social network analysis identifies high value nodes within the business community. These high value nodes are targeted with an introductory offer to a business newsletter underwritten by the Scaife Foundation.
Leaks of embarrassing information are making it into blogs. Network analysis indicates that the point of entry can be traced back to TPM Muckraker. An analysis of phone records then identifies that an administration staffer has made phone calls on his cell phone to his brother who has made phone calls to TPM.
The misuse of personal information such as phone record, medical records, financial records has the capability to destroy individuals. The misuse of Social Network Analysis has the capability to destroy individuals and the communities in which they live and work.
Those seeking to spin away the NSA database as not a threat to individual liberties could not be more wrong. The NSA database and Social Network Analysis in the wrong hands pose a greater threat to democracy and individual liberties than the misuse of personal information.
A couple of good resources on Social Network Analysis:Wikipedia and, the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA)
Update: As I go to post this, it appears that the last situation, the administration using Social Network Analysis and phone records to target leaks is a reality.