Tech industry must lead privacy fight

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[Commentary] The Senate charade allowing the National Security Agency to continue spying on Americans' phone records would be laughable if it didn't have such dangerous implications for both the tech industry and consumer privacy.

One by one Senate Republicans stood up and announced their support for the NSA's "collect it all" mentality on the grounds that it's a crucial counterterrorism tool. Never mind that the United States has been able to point to only one case that came to light through a search of domestic phone records. And that one example was an Anaheim cabbie sending the vast sum of $1,000 to an al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia. Yep, that makes all the spying worthwhile. Silicon Valley and the American public must increase the pressure on Congress to come to its senses. It's unlikely that the valley will be able to innovate itself out of this mess. The right to privacy is one of the nation's most treasured principles. Silicon Valley needs to take a more active role in protecting Americans' privacy -- and restoring public trust in its products.


Tech industry must lead privacy fight