It is interesting to note that you have dedicated your entire International Section to data mining, which is ostensibly directed against terrorist activities around the globe, but which “also raises the specter of criminalizing or constraining innocent people’s eccentric but legal behavior” (“Know-Alls,” September 27, 2008). Indeed. In this context it is interesting to read the recent “Suspicious Activities Report” by American Homeland Security et alii, which “urges police to question people who, among other things, use binoculars, count footsteps, take notes, draw diagrams, change appearance, speak with security staff, and photograph objects with no apparent esthetic value.” Not surprisingly, al-Qaeda offers tips to foil data-mining systems, such as calling phone-sex hotlines, which make a person’s profile less suspicious. As data mining is used not only by police establishments, but also by sundry commercial outfits to track people’s shopping preferences, we can expect liberal organizations, including The Economist, to promote eccentric behavior in all its guises. In addition to the above, people could be advised to, among other things, walk on stilts, read newspapers upside down, wear hunting or fishing gear at concerts of classical music, read Beckett aloud in public transport, drag lengths of rope behind them, and defecate in the middle of busy intersections. With proper coaching and some ingenuity, data mining would soon be a thing of the past.