Despite being in public life, I value my own privacy immensely and would be as concerned as anyone else if I thought my mobile phone records could be easily available to officials across government.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Governmental surveillance is not about the government collecting the information you're sharing publicly and willingly; it's about collecting the information you don't think you're sharing at all, such as the online searches you do on search engines... or private emails or text messages... or the location of your mobile phone at any time.
Just because technological advances have made it easier for the federal government to collect information doesn't mean that our privacy rights can or should be violated on the ground or in the air.
We have never really had absolute privacy with our records or our electronic communications - government agencies have always been able to gain access with appropriate court orders.
The right to personal privacy is precious. Without it, we are all potential victims for a prying secret police.
A lot of individuals out there carry a lot of proprietary information on their mobile devices, and they're not protected. It's a very target-rich environment.
I think the American public can accept the fact if you tell them that every time you pick up the phone it's going to be recorded and it goes to the government. I think the public can understand that.
I want my government to do something about my privacy - I don't want to just do it on my own.
I'm not against the NSA. I'm not against spying; I'm not against looking at phone records.
Personal privacy is a closely held American value.
With those people, I'm very far apart, because I believe that government access to communications and stored records is valuable when done under tightly controlled conditions which protect legitimate privacy interests.