How Triadic Closure Can Fight Terrorism
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2013/06/07/how-the-nsa-uses-all-those-verizon-phone-records/2/#6755ae9a7094
Ever since Edward Snowden came out with information that the government was spying on people’s private information such as phone records, emails, and online activity, the public has been paranoid about government surveillance. People want privacy and did not expect the government to be looking over their shoulders so closely. However, even though it may violate privacy, government surveillance may help the country combat one of its most pressing issues today: anti-terrorism. In the past, to map terrorist groups’ networks, the most that law enforcement officials could do is physically follow the two men around. This method was ineffective because it takes way too long to complete, especially in the modern global jihad, and even then, the two men could be in the peripheral of the conspiracy. This could take years to connect these two men to the leaders of the networks.
Today, law enforcement officials are able to utilize Verizon and other communication company records to map out terrorist group’s networks much more efficiently and accurately. It would be impractical for the government to have to obtain court orders from every suspect. The government uses the triadic closure theory, which says that if person A is friends with person B and person C, then person B and person C are most likely friends as well, to associate groups of three people together. Using their communication records and the triadic closure concept, the two suspects could be used to map out the conspiracy by finding contacts that the two have in common. Then, officials would look for closed triads to analyze the contacts of the suspects’ connections. Once the conspiracy is completely mapped out, it can be used mathematically to see many things: who is most central to the network, who has the widest reach within the network and who in the network provides a crucial role as a bridge between otherwise unconnected people. By the end, law enforcement officials are able to view an accurate picture of the terrorist group’s network, leading them to know almost everyone and every construct of the group’s network. This information is crucial to the government dismantling these networks and eliminating any threat these groups may pose.
Although sometimes it may seem intrusive, the government surveillance over citizens is for the betterment of the country. The truth is that, whether it’s the government or a media company, every day someone is looking through our records and private information. Therefore, if people are fine with company’s selling and searching through customers’ information to market more specifically to consumers, the public shouldn’t have a problem with government surveillance if it’s for the fight against terrorism.