Statement on Latest NSA Privacy Violation Revelations

The Center for Democracy & Technology has issued the following statement in response to the revelations of mass privacy violations by the NSA, as first reported by the Washington Post.

“No one should be surprised by the revelations that the NSA regularly violates the privacy rights of Americans, but the consistent increase in incidents and the scale of improper surveillance are deeply disturbing. While much appears unintentional, this shows the inherent risks of the NSA’s broad collection of electronic communications. The number of privacy violations is staggering – thousands of incidents have occurred in the last year, and each incident may involve monitoring the phone calls, texts, and emails of hundreds of Americans. It is clear there cannot be enough safeguards in place with such collection programs. Congress and the President must act now to stop improper surveillance before more innocent American citizens have their privacy rights blatantly violated,” said Leslie Harris, President and CEO.