public marks

PUBLIC MARKS from gregg with tags data-visualisation & privacy

29 October 2013 18:00

Three degrees of separation: breaking down the NSA's 'hops' surveillance method

You don’t need to be talking to a terror suspect to have your communications data analysed by the NSA. The agency is allowed to travel “three hops” from its targets – who could be people who talk to people who talk to people who talk to you. Facebook, where the typical user has 190 friends, shows how three degrees of separation gets you to a network bigger than the population of Colorado. How many people are three “hops” from you?