[echohack]

RE #3: They could also already have the data and simply be querying Facebook to establish a "backwards chain of evidence".

Hilariously, I'm reading Cryptonomicon right now and that's exactly what Sergent Shafto and crew do by pretending they're finding German submarine secrets.

[rhizome]

It's called Parallel Construction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_construction

[saraid216]

Why is that hilarious? They could easily have gotten the idea from the same place.