Tag: Government Overreach

Senator Steve Daines today stood alongside Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and called for the end of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk meta-data collection program. Below are key excerpts from Daines’ floor speech: “I know firsthand the power that big data holds – I also know the great risks that arise when this power is abused. There is a clear and direct threat to Americans’ civil liberties that comes with the mass collection of our personal information and phone records. “This program is a direct threat to our Constitutional rights. It has jeopardized our civil liberties with little proven effectiveness.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Steve Daines today welcomed a federal court ruling that the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk telephone metadata collection program is illegal and reaffirmed his commitment to ending the federal government’s mass collection of Montanans’ personal information. The New York-based 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously ruled today that the NSA does not have the legal authority to widely collect Americans’ bulk telephony metadata. “Montanans have long known that the federal government’s mass collection of our personal data is an unacceptable overreach of power and today’s court ruling confirms it,” Daines stated. “It’s long past time