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4 Bulk Collection
Pages 51-58

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From page 51...
... If it is possible to do targeted collection of similar events in the future, and they happen soon enough, then the past events might not be needed. If the past events are unique or if delay in obtaining results is unacceptable (perhaps because of press coverage or public demand)
From page 52...
... But sometimes information becomes interesting only because of new events or information, in which case previous bulk collection may be the only possible source. Targeted collection provides data only on present and future actions of parties of interest at the time of collection, but not on their past activities.
From page 53...
... Some of the data collected for strategic intelligence is analyzed using statistical techniques: rather than looking for specific persons or groups, the goal is to monitor trends or patterns in communications that might lead to intelligence insights. This is one application of analytical techniques that are known today as "big data analytics." 4.1.4  Reference Data Bulk collection is used to acquire reference data that supports other signals intelligence (SIGINT)
From page 54...
... With luck, previously targeted collection may provide information on alternate identifiers that the new target has used. Adding bulk data may help, because, by definition, bulk collection may contain alternate identifiers.
From page 55...
... If a significant portion of the stored network pertains to nontargets, this technique should be viewed as a variant of bulk collection. Some proposals go even farther and use algorithms to fuse data from several different intelligence sources into an annotated "hypergraph," where the annotations retain information gleaned from intelligence data.2 These schemes are arguably more intrusive on privacy and civil liberties than bulk collection of raw SIGINT, because they analyze and store a multi-source picture of many people who are of no intelligence value.
From page 56...
... One benefit of this approach is that it allows one to reduce the computing burden by first applying cheap tests, followed by more expensive filters only if earlier filters warrant. For example, if metadata indicates a civilian telephone call to a military unit under surveillance, speech recognition and subsequent semantic analysis might be applied to the voice signal, resulting in an ultimate collection decision.
From page 57...
... Data retained from targeted SIGINT collection might be a partial substitute if the needed information was in fact collected. Bulk data held by other parties might substitute to some extent, but this relies on those 3 President's Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies, "­ ibertyL and Security in a Changing World," http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ docs/2013-12-12_rg_final_report.pdf, and Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, Report on the Telephone Records Program Conducted under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and on the Operations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, January 23, 2014, http://www.pclob.
From page 58...
... As a result, at least in some cases, it may be possible to develop techniques that would improve targeted collection to the point where it provides a viable substitute for bulk collection. Although such approaches might reduce the extent of collection against persons other than targets of interest, they might also introduce new privacy and civil liberties concerns about how such profiles are developed and used.


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