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| President Obama |
President Obama; ''We will not monitor the communications of... our close friends and allies''
President
Barack Obama has ordered curbs on the use of bulk data collected by US
intelligence agencies, saying civil liberties must be respected.
Mr Obama said such data had prevented terror attacks at home
and abroad, but that in tackling threats the government risked
over-reaching itself.
However civil liberties groups have said the changes do not go far enough.
The announcement follows widespread anger after leaks revealed the full extent of US surveillance operations.
“Start Quote
The president has not put a lid on this debate - indeed he rather has given the pot a vigorous stir”
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The leaked documents revealed
that the US collects massive amounts of electronic data from
communications of private individuals around the world, and has spied on
foreign leaders.
The latest revelations claim that US agencies have collected
and stored almost 200 million text messages every day across the globe,
according to the Guardian newspaper and Channel 4 News.
'Rights are protected'
In his much-anticipated speech
at the Department of Justice, Mr Obama said he would not apologise for
the effectiveness of US intelligence operations, and insisted nothing he
had seen indicated they had sought to break the law.
It was necessary for the US to continue collecting large amounts of data, he said, but acknowledged "the potential of abuse".
"The reforms I'm proposing today should give the American
people greater confidence that their rights are being protected, even as
our intelligence and law enforcement agencies maintain the tools they
need to keep us safe," he said.
The US was embarrassed by the reports it had spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Details of the times, numbers and durations of phone calls -
known as metadata - are currently collected and held by the National
Security Agency (NSA). But Mr Obama said he was ending that system "as
it currently exists".
- Accessing internet company data
- Tapping fibre optic cables
- Eavesdropping on phones
- Targeted spying
He has asked the attorney general
and the intelligence community to draw up plans for metadata to be held
by a third party, with the NSA requiring legal permission to access
them.
A panel of independent privacy advocates would also sit on
the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) which has
responsibility for giving permission for mass surveillance programmes.
Mr Obama offered assurances to non-Americans, saying people
around the world "should know that the United States is not spying on
ordinary people who don't threaten our national security".
"This applies to foreign leaders as well," he said, promising
that from now on the US "will not monitor the communications of heads
of state and government of our close friends and allies".
It was revealed last year that the US had spied on friendly
foreign leaders, including on the personal mobile of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel.
A spokesman for Mrs Merkel said on Friday many Germans were
"rightfully concerned" by spying reports and that the rights of foreign
citizens must be respected.
He said Berlin would continue to hold confidential talks with
the US on "a new clear basis for co-operation amongst intelligence
agencies".
Mr Obama was also critical of nations he said "feign
surprise" over US snooping but "privately acknowledge that America has
special responsibilities as the world's only superpower" and have used
the information gathered for their own purposes.
'Music on Titanic'
Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor at the who leaked
the information, is wanted in the US for espionage and is now living in
exile in Russia.
Civil liberties groups see him as a hero for exposing what
they see as official intrusions into private lives, but many Americans
believe he has endangered American lives.
The president said he would not "dwell on Mr Snowden's
actions or his motivations", but warned that the "sensational way" the
NSA details had come to light had potentially jeopardised US operations
"for years to come".
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| Edward Snowden has become a hero of the campaign for civil liberties |
Mr Obama's reforms were welcomed as progress in some quarters,
but others argued they did not go far enough in protecting individuals.
"President Obama's surveillance adjustments will be
remembered as music on the Titanic unless his administration adopts
deeper reforms," said Steven W. Hawkins, executive director of Amnesty
International USA.
"Shifting the storage of information does not address the
fundamental problem: the collection of mass personal data in the first
place," he said in a statement.
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