What the tech industry wants to hear from Obama about NSA spying

No industry will be watching more closely than Silicon Valley tech firms when President Barack Obama talks about reforms to the National Security Agency's surveillance programs, and no industry has more at stake. Since the disclosures about NSA spying came out last year, the tech industry has feared an erosion of users' trust, and foreign leaders have threatened to stop using U.S. tech firms' products and services, potentially costing them billions of dollars. Countries like Brazil have even considered creating their own Internet to avoid NSA snooping, threatening to "Balkanize" what's now an open network that allows people around the world to express themselves freely. "The companies need to hear that the administration is going to balance national security interests with economic and diplomatic interests," said Allan Friedman, a visiting scholar at George Washington University and co-author of "Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know." "The companies' customers need to hear that the U.S. is not going to use its power to exercise undue influence over the global Internet," he added. The valley wants the President to offer four concrete fixes in key areas: 1) US Data, 2) Foreign Data, 3) Transparency, and 4) A privacy czar.