PBS: Can the tech industry strike the privacy, safety balance?

The following piece is a discussion with CDT President Nuala O’Connor, Christian Dawson of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition, and PBS journalist Gwen Ifill…

Even before President Obama outlined his proposed changes in how the NSA should collect data for surveillance, many tech giants were vocal in their criticism. Gwen Ifill discusses what’s at stake with Christian Dawson of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition and Nuala O’Connor of the Center for Democracy and Technology.

GWEN IFILL: The president’s speech on surveillance and privacy late last week rattled cages from Silicon Valley to foreign capitals. But a new survey from the Pew Research Center and USA Today found nearly half of those polled believe there are still not enough limits placed on the government’s collection of telephone and Web data.

Many of the people who produce and market the technology used to conduct the surveillance agree.

Even before President Obama outlined his proposed changes in how the NSA should collect data for surveillance, many tech giants, like Google, Apple and Facebook, were vocal in their criticism. In public and in private White House meetings, executives complained the government is using their software to vacuum up data like e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

Find the PBS News Hour video, audio, and full transcript of the discussion here.