Good strategy
Like searching under the streetlight. Why not search where we have the very best chance to encounter civs who can most easily detect us from a LONG was away? The Allen Array isn't sensitive enough to evesdrop; it can just detect directed beam messages. Somebody who could observe our ecliptic transits would be the best bet as a directed message sender. I'd also search first where the ecliptic intersects the plane of the Milky Way. More prospects.