US eavesdropping finds few suspects: newspaper

that's good, right?

it's called a type 1 error, a false alarm.

it doesn't cost you much.

the type 2 error, a missed positive, is very costly.

so you design your resources to produce no type 2 errors by allowing lots of type 1 errors.

US eavesdropping misses no terrorist plots, would be the corresponding headline.

a valid-looking criticism would say the design used is inefficient, which is possible but not supported by the story.

the story itself is ignorance elaborated in the way reporters do with everything.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly all of the thousands of Americans subjected to a domestic surveillance program authorized by President George W. Bush have been dismissed as potential suspects, the Washington Post said on Sunday.