U.S. President Barack Obama laid out his plan for reforming the National Security Agency's widely-derided surveillance tactics Friday, after months of pressure to do so from privacy advocates, technology companies and fellow elected officials.
The global debate on government surveillance, fueled by documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is now more than seven months old. Obama first promised to enact changes to NSA policies in August, two months after the Snowden leaks went public. Since then, technology industry leaders, high-level government officials and privacy groups have all urged Obama to make wholesale changes to NSA programs in a timely manner.
After Obama revealed his plan Friday morning, those same critics sounded off, offering a wide range of reactions. Some called the reforms a "major milestone" while others accused Obama of saying "almost nothing" during the speech.
Below is a summary of those reactions from some of Obama's most prominent privacy critics.
The Critics React
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) has been one of the most outspoken members of Congress when it comes to the privacy debate -- he called the plan a big step forward.
I’ve been 1 of the few voices for years calling to reform #NSA's bulk phone records collection. Very imp for our privacy rights.— Mark Udall (@MarkUdall) January 17, 2014
After my years of #bipartisan work & ongoing efforts, Pres. Obama took big steps forward today on #NSA reform.— Mark Udall (@MarkUdall) January 17, 2014
The most significant reform Obama announced was a change to the NSA's bulk collection and storage of telephone metadata. Obama said the NSA can no longer tap into the vast trove of data it collects without a court order, and eventually the government will rely on third parties to hold the data.
While this is considered a victory for privacy by many, Glenn Greenwald, one of the journalists who received leaked documents from Snowden, questioned Obama on this point.
What are the options for storing the metadata other than NSA or telecoms? Also, why does everyone's metadata need to be stored again?— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 17, 2014
Trevor Timm, executive director of advocacy group Freedom of the Press, took note of a significant omission from Obama's speech.
Obama didn't mention anything about NSA systematically undermining common encryption, one of the most disturbing Snowden revelations.— Trevor Timm (@trevortimm) January 17, 2014
Eight of the world's most powerful tech companies, which last month joined together to form a "Reform Government Surveillance" campaign, offered some support for Obama's proposal but said there is still more to be done. The group of companies -- Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, AOL, LinkedIn and Yahoo -- emailed Mashable the following joint statement:
The commitments outlined by President Obama represent positive progress on key issues including transparency from the government and in what companies will be allowed to disclose, extending privacy protections to non-US citizens, and FISA court reform. Crucial details remain to be addressed on these issues, and additional steps are needed on other important issues, so we’ll continue to work with the Administration and Congress to keep the momentum going and advocate for reforms consistent with the principles we outlined in December.
Speaking on CNN after the speech, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took potshots at the plan, accusing the president of both lying and saying "almost nothing."
Assange: "It's clear the President would not be speaking today if it wasn't for Edward Snowden and whistleblowers before him."— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 17, 2014
Assange: "What we didn't hear from the president was any meaningful protection of the US tech business."— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 17, 2014
Assange: "We heard a lot of lies in this speech by Obama. He said for example that the NSA has never abused what it has done."— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 17, 2014
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) was another who thought Obama's proposed reforms didn't go far enough.
"If you like your privacy you can keep it...": http://t.co/87XtZGoZvt— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) January 17, 2014
"While I am encouraged the President is addressing the NSA spying program because of pressure from Congress and the American people, I am disappointed in the details," Paul said in a statement. "President Obama's announced solution to the NSA spying controversy is the same unconstitutional program with a new configuration."
Finnish cyber security expert Mikko Hypponen offered measured support for Obama's announcement that he will extend some protections on U.S. surveillance to foreign citizens and leaders.
I'm glad Obama said that US will take foreigners "privacy concerns into account". He didn't exactly say how, but anyway. That's a start.— Mikko Hypponen ‹␊␍› (@mikko) January 17, 2014
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), another fierce critic of NSA surveillance techniques, wrote that the reforms Obama proposed are a good start.
After years of work, it's good to see 1st steps to reform taken today. But make no mistake, many more need to come http://t.co/2R5e5LeBvl— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) January 17, 2014
In a statement, Wyden said the following:
After the long push to rein in overbroad surveillance powers, we are very pleased that the President announced his intent to end the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records. Ending this dragnet collection will go a long way toward restoring Americans’ constitutional rights and rebuilding the public’s trust. Make no mistake, this is a major milestone in our longstanding efforts to reform the National Security Agency’s bulk collection program
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy advocacy group, seemed to agree with Wyden's premise that there is still a long way to go. The EFF even released a scorecard, grading Obama's proposed reforms.
Today, Obama took several steps toward reforming NSA surveillance, but there's a long way to go. Now it's up Congress & courts.— EFF (@EFF) January 17, 2014
Since not all of Obama's reforms take effect immediately, and many are simply proposals without specific details in place, it's not yet clear how substantially Friday's announcements will affect the furthest reaches of government surveillance.
Judging by the range of critics' reactions, however, the debate over NSA tactics won't be ending anytime soon.