General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: My Life in Circles: Why Metadata is Incredibly Intimate [View all]Pholus
(4,062 posts)Not at their own population. That is a crucial difference.
Analyzing the US population metadata by default makes every US citizen a suspect without probable cause. That, of course, is unconstitutional unless you want to split hairs on some legal definitions and then classify those interpretations as secrets to prevent them from being challenged. Kind of what the core situation here actually is.
By the way, let's kill your other canard too. Your shopkeeper? Talked to the police to divulge that information only when it became relevant.
These days, the state would like to notice that "Mr Brown" went missing itself by taking the commercial records and maintaining them itself:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-agencies-said-to-swap-data-with-thousands-of-firms.html
I'm with Orson Wells on when a policeman's job is easy.