President Obama has reauthorized the government’s bulk collection of phone data for 90 days despite calling for the practice to end. In a statement, Obama said he will sign an extension because Congress has yet to approve his proposed reforms. Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden said Obama should end bulk collection on his own.
Sen. Ron Wyden: “I believe the president ought to make the transition right away. … I believe strongly we ought to ban all dragnet surveillance on law-abiding Americans, not just phone records, but also medical records, purchases and others.”
Under Obama’s proposal, phone companies would store the metadata, and the government would mine it using individual court orders.