http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Udall also stated that he disagrees with the President about striking the right balance in regards to privacy on This Week with George Stephanopoulos:"It's unclear to me that we've developed any intelligence through the [phone call] metadata program that's led to the disruption of plots that we couldn't obtain through other programs," Udall said on CNN's "State of the Union."Udall, who in recent days has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the Obama administration's surveillance methods, conceded that a different government program known as PRISM -- which monitors the Internet activity of foreigners -- has payed some dividends. Still, he emphasized his criticism of the government's phone record collection program.
"Maybe Americans think this is OK, but I think the line has been drawn too much toward we're going to invade your privacy rather than we're going to protect your privacy," he said.
Debate over the intelligence-gathering efforts had been set off by The Guardian's recent report that the Obama administration ordered Verizon to turn over millions of phone records to the National Security Agency. The move, congressional leaders say, was part of a broader strategy to prevent terrorist attacks.
No names were attached to the records sent to the NSA and the contents of the conversations were never disclosed. But that's little comfort to Udall, who said the government can extrapolate a lot from "when you call, where you call." - Huffington Post, 6/9/13
Udall also talked about the metadata the NSA has been collecting:My main concern is that Americans don't know the extent to what they're being surveilled. When you make calls, where you make calls to, who you're talking to, I think that's private information. I think if the government is gathering that, american people ought to know it.Frankly, I think we ought to reopen the patriot act and put some limits on data that the national security administration is collecting. What kind of limits exactly? They're not allowed to continue the targeting of any individual unless they have probable cause.
Unless they developed some information to give them the reason to continue tracking. My concern is, look you know what went through a contract with your phone company, that they're going to collect this data. The phone company can't arrest you, prosecute you and put you in jail.
Although it sounds simple can lead to a lot of additional information. I just draw the line a little bit differently than the president does. We have to remember we're in a war against terrorists and terrorism remains a real threat.
I think we have to queue the bill of rights. The fourth amendment ought to be important to us and it ought to remain sacred. There ought to be a balance here. - This Week, 6/9/13
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Udall even called for re-opening the debate on the Patriot Act:Last week, it was revealed that a classified court order required Verizon to turn over records of all domestic phone calls to the National Security Agency.This so-called metadata involves computers scouring through raw call data without the use of names or conversation content. If something is flagged, then investigators may choose to go to court to be granted access to more information, such as who made the calls and what was said.
“You can extrapolate” a lot of data using this, Mr. Udall said. “We value our privacy as Americans.”
When pressed about what’s the harm in gathering this metadata, Mr. Udall stressed that it hasn’t been proved to work and that this is “only another step” toward crossing a line.
He said “it’s the scale” that concerns him and the fact that it was a secret program.
Other lawmakers have said important information was obtained from such data collection, but Mr. Udall dismissed that.
“I’m not convinced. We could have gotten that from other data,” he said. - Washington Times, 6/9/13
Couldn't agree more with Udall on this. It's long overdue that the Patriot Act be looked at again and either repealed and greatly revised that it protects and respects American citizens civil liberties and privacy. If you want to thank Udall for leading on this issue, please do donate to his 2014 re-election campaign because we need more men like him in the Senate:Senator Mark Udall, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said he thought another look at the law was warranted as reports of the data collection stirred a debate over privacy rights in the United States."I think we ought to reopen the Patriot Act and put some limits on the amount of data that the National Security (Agency) is collecting," Udall told the ABC program "This Week."
Udall said there must be a balance between protecting the country against terrorist attacks and respecting Americans' constitutional rights, including the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure.
"It ought to remain sacred, and there's got to be a balance here. That is what I'm aiming for. Let's have the debate, let's be transparent, let's open this up," he said. - The Courant, 6/9/13
