For the first time, NSA Deputy Director John C. Inglis disclosed that the agency sometimes conducts what is known as three-hop analysis. That means the government can look at the phone data of a suspected terrorist, plus the data of all of the contacts, then all of those people’s contacts, and all of those people’s contacts.
If the average person calls 40 unique people, three-hop analysis could allow the government to mine the records of 2.5 million Americans when investigating one suspected terrorist.
So Yost says NSA taps up to 2.5 million americans for every terrorist they get a warrant for, via "3 hop analysis." His math is wrong. 40^3 is 64,000. 40^4 is 2.56M. Perhaps he made a mistake, or 64,000 wasn't dramatic enough for him. If you ask me it's bad enough. Warrants are supposed to be specific as to the person and place to be searched, and that which is being searched for.
In what world would it be ok, given a warrant, to have the police ransack the entire neighborhood and those surrounding it? Oh yeah, Watertown.
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