Bayes' Theorem and the Mass Surveillance

Floyd Rudmin is using the mathematics of conditional probability to show that: "Mass surveillance by NSA of all Americans' phone calls and emails would be very effective for domestic political intelligence.

But finding a few terrorists by mass surveillance of the phone calls and email messages of 300 million Americans is mathematically impossible, and NSA certainly knows that."

Found via Schneier on Security blog.

More on Bayes' Theorem in Wikipedia.