Data points

[unixronin]

From schneier:  The official US terrorist watch list has now hit one million names.  Yup, that's right — the US Government now considers one in every 304 Americans to be a suspected terrorist.  Statistically speaking, assuming for the sake of argument that the distribution is uniform and random, that means Congress and the White House staff together should contain about two terrorists (nominations, anyone?), and about one in every ten school classes contains a terrorist.  Reports indicate the terrorist watch list is growing by 20,000 names a month.

And from danjite, the UK has the highest per-capita income in Europe, yet has the lowest standard of living.  The high cost of energy in the UK is a major factor — Britons pay among the highest prices in Europe for electricity, gas, gasoline and diesel fuel, ranging from 5% above the European average for electricity to 49% above average for gas.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I suspect that significant numbers of the names on that list represent non-citizens. Throws your projections out of whack, without adding any utility to the list itself.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, there is that. It's still absurd.

[danjite.livejournal.com]

...and remember, if you are on the flight list then you are categorically not a suspected terrorist. DHS has conformed that those names are on a sekrit liszt, as they are too important to let into the general knowledge, so- while being on "No Fly" opens you to harassment, it means that the government specifically thinks you aren't a terrorist- just somebody to fsck with.

[radarrider.livejournal.com]

Read the update to Schneier's original post. Summary: "There are only 400,000 on it, and 95 percent are not U.S. “persons.” (Persons = citizens plus others with a legal right to be in the U.S.)"

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw the update, I just hadn't updated myself. Not least shortage of energy and focus.

Still ..... we're trying to watch for 400,000 people...?