THE HILL: Tech executives to Obama: ‘Move aggressively’ to limit spy programs.
The technology companies — including Google, Facebook and Yahoo — have been lobbying the White House and Capitol Hill to scale back the National Security Agency surveillance programs.
Companies have complained that the NSA’s data-mining operations, revealed earlier this year in the Edward Snowden leaks, have hurt consumer trust in their services and led users to flee their networks.
And the White House’s defense of the programs was complicated further by a federal judge who ruled Monday that the administration’s phone surveillance program appeared to be unconstitutional. The judge’s order has been stayed pending appeals, but the ruling has again thrust the controversial programs into the spotlight.
The White House said in a statement that the meeting was an “opportunity” for Obama to “hear from CEOs directly” on their concerns about the intelligence programs.
Related: Obama ‘hijacks’ tech executive meeting to make ‘PR pitch’ on Obamacare website fix instead of dealing with NSA surveillance. This guy always changes the subject when he’s in trouble.