- 'Potential abuse' of collected data cited as concern
President Barack Obama has conceded that mass collection of private data by the US government may be unnecessary and said there were different ways of "skinning the cat", which could allow intelligence agencies to keep the country safe without compromising privacy.
In an apparent endorsement of a recommendation by a review panel to shift responsibility for the bulk collection of telephone records away from the National Security Agency and on to the phone companies, the president said change was necessary to restore public confidence.
"In light of the disclosures, it is clear that whatever benefits the configuration of this particular programme may have, may be outweighed by the concerns that people have on its potential abuse," Obama told an end-of-year White House press conference. "If it that's the case, there may be a better way of skinning the cat."
Though insisting he will not make a final decision until January, this is the furthest the president has gone in backing calls to dismantle the programme to collect telephone data, a practice the NSA claims has legal foundation under section 215 of the Patriot Act. This week, a federal judge said the program "very likely" violates the US constitution.
"There are ways we can do this potentially that give people greater assurance that there are checks and balances, sufficient oversight and transparency," Obama added. "Programmes like 215 could be redesigned in ways that give you the same information when you need it without creating these potentials for abuse. That's exactly what we should be doing: to evaluate things in a very clear specific way and moving forward on changes. And that's what I intend to do."
Comment: Notice the shift in blame here? It's not 'really' the NSA who's at fault - it's the telecom companies and, of course, Edward Snowden.
Ask yourself how likely it is that anything 'leaks' from this government that this government doesn't want leaked. How much of what we're told can we trust to be true?