[June 11, 2013] Govt. phone surveillance sparks debate Tweet SEBRING, Jun 10, 2013 (Highlands Today - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The government's storing of U.S. phone records along with collecting Internet use data on foreign nationals overseas has renewed the debate on the balance of personal privacy versus national security. The National Security Agency, officials acknowledged recently, has been collecting phone records of hundreds of millions of U.S. phone customers. In another program, it collects audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas who use any of the nine major Internet providers, including Microsoft, Google, Apple and Yahoo. The revelations have reopened the post-Sept. 11 debate about individual privacy concerns versus heightened measures to protect the U.S. against terrorist attacks. Some support the monitoring, believing it will not affect the innocent, but will help in the effort against terrorism. "I suppose it could be open to abuse, but I don't worry about it," said West Linscott of Sebring. "I think if you've got something to hide you might worry about it. So what, they know how many times I have ordered from Pizza Hut. It doesn't bother me personally." He supports the surveillance if it helps in the capture of "bad guys" or "terrorists." Bill Adams of Sebring said, "You really shouldn't be saying anything on the telephone that you wouldn't want to say across the breakfast table. I think if they can root out some of these evil people who have been a plague to us it may be a good thing. No problem with it at all." John Clark of Orlando calls the NSA surveillance "eavesdropping." People deserve their privacy, but he believes the surveillance is O.K. "That's my opinion because I am a good guy and a good guy doesn't have to worry about anything," Clark said. "I am not going to do anything illegal so it doesn't bother me. That's the problem, most of the people who are doing something illegal don't want it." In interviews across the country in recent days, Americans said they were startled by the NSA's actions. Abraham Ismail, a 25-year-old software designer taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi outside a Starbucks in Raleigh, N.C., said in retrospect, fears had prompted Americans to give up too much privacy. "It shouldn't be so just effortless," he said, snapping his fingers for emphasis, "to pull people's information and get court orders to be able to database every single call, email. I mean, it's crazy." Neil Richards, a professor at Washington University's School of Law in St. Louis who studies privacy law and civil liberties, said, "We are living in an age of surveillance. There's much more watching and much more monitoring and I think we have a series of important choices to make as a society -- about how much watching we want." But the only way to make those choices meaningful, he and others said, is to lift the secrecy shrouding the watchers. Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said, "I don't think that people routinely accept the idea that government should be able to do what it wants to do., It's not just about privacy. It's about responsibility ... and you only get to evaluate that when government is more public about its conduct." U.S. Rep. (Fl-17) Tom Rooney's office responded Monday to Highlands Today's request for a statement on the NSA surveillance issue. Rooney's Communications Director Michael Mahaffey, said: "Congressman Rooney understands the serious concerns raised by many of his constituents that their privacy may have been violated. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, he is waiting to receive a full briefing on these programs before he issues a further statement." Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CNN Sunday, "I expect the government to protect my privacy. It feels like that isn't what's been happening. The scale of it and the fact the law was being secretly interpreted has long concerned me." President Barack Obama said the programs are authorized by Congress and subject to strict supervision of a secret court, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says they do not target U.S. citizens. Edward Snowden, 29, the man who gave classified documents to reporters, making public the U.S. surveillance programs, allowed The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers to reveal his identity Sunday. The Guardian reported that Snowden was working in an NSA office in Hawaii when he copied the last of the documents he planned to disclose and told supervisors that he needed to be away for a few weeks to receive treatment for epilepsy. He left for Hong Kong on May 20 and has remained there since, according to the newspaper. Snowden is quoted as saying he chose that city because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent", and because he believed it was among the spots on the globe that could and would resist the dictates of the U.S. government. [email protected] 863-386-5826 The Associated Press contributed to this report ___ (c)2013 Highlands Today (Sebring, Fla.) Visit the Highlands Today (Sebring, Fla.) at www.highlandstoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]