I am barred by Senate rules from commenting on some of the
details at this time. However, I believe that when law-abiding
Americans call their friends, who they call, when they call, and where
they call from is private information. Collecting this data about every
single phone call that every American makes every day would be a
massive invasion of Americans’ privacy.
The
administration has an obligation to give a substantive and timely
response to the American people and I hope this story will force a real
debate about the government’s domestic surveillance authorities. The
American people have a right to know whether their government thinks
that the sweeping, dragnet surveillance that has been alleged in this
story is allowed under the law and whether it is actually being
conducted. Furthermore, they have a right to know whether the program
that has been described is actually of value in preventing attacks.
Based on several years of oversight, I believe that its value and
effectiveness remain unclear.
-- Senator Ron Wyden after last week's revelations of Barack Obama's mass spying on the American people emerged.