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Date: August 7, 2032
From: The Bureau of Public Anomaly Screenings
Subject: A notice
Dear citizen,
As you may know, under the Public Screening Act of 2030, all citizens are undergoing routine checks for anomalies. We do so through the use of public sources only, aggregating and mining your digital traces.
According to our findings, which are accurate in 99.5% of all cases — thus legally qualifying as proof beyond reasonable doubt — we have come to the following conclusions:
- Your 56 Amazon book reviews and ratings: The choice of books reviewed, as well as the reviews given, lead our system to believe you have an above average interest in anti-governmental subjects. The associated review timestamps show high nighttime activity, which is often an indicator of minority behavior.
- Your 4,550 FriendFeed comments: Analyzing comment writing style and frequency, our automated system concludes there is a strong chance of an anomaly.
- Your 28 public Picasa photo [...]