Sen. Wyden: "Administration is getting concerned about the bulk phone records"(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
Sen. Wyden: "Administration is getting concerned about the bulk phone records"
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/us/report-indicates-more-extensive-cooperation-by-microsoft-on-surveillance.html
The current controversy over the agency’s surveillance policies was first set off after Mr. Snowden leaked a secret FISA court order telling Verizon to turn over calling data from all of its customers. Mr. Wyden now believes that the White House is beginning to recognize that the program raises so many privacy concerns that it is willing to drop it.
“I have a feeling that the administration is getting concerned about the bulk phone records collection, and that they are thinking about whether to move administratively to stop it,” he said. He added he believed that the continuing controversy prompted by Mr. Snowden had changed the political calculus in Congress over the balance between security and civil liberties, which has been heavily weighted toward security since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“I think we are making a comeback,” Mr. Wyden said, referring to privacy and civil liberties advocates.