While the recommendations of a presidential panel on government spying have been mostly welcomed, the 300-page report itself does nothing to restore faith in the privacy of electronic communications.
In fact, the report could be seen as doing just the opposite. It is a confession that the revelations of Edward Snowden are accurate, and that everyone for years has been monitored on a massive scale unprecedented in its scope and size.
We analyzed this aspect of the widely reported recommendations today in
Report further erodes faith in electronic privacy
The key question is now coming into focus: when will the erosion of trust be reversed, before it does lasting harm to freedom of expression and the high-tech economy so dependent on the trust of those who use it?
While the president should win praise for releasing the report long before its planned date, the pressure is now ratcheting up for something to be done.
Reform is urgently needed. The longer it is delayed, the more trust will erode. US technology companies are correctly fearful of the impact on their businesses and the economy.
But the real impetus is the constitutional protections afforded by the Fourth Amendment. One doesn’t have to be a legal scholar to conclude they have been ignored and violated as never before.