In a live studio interview recorded at McAfee’s Beacon Hill studio, host Maria Stephanos discusses President Barack Obama’s post‑Snowden reforms that would keep the NSA’s collection of telephone metadata but shift its storage to a third‑party entity. Security expert Robert Siciliano (McAfee) and an unnamed panelist (Speaker B) argue that the change does not meaningfully protect privacy because the government still retains access to the data. The conversation references the Snowden revelations, the long‑standing practice of mass data collection dating back to the Cold War, and the tension between national security needs and civil liberties. Siciliano emphasizes that while intelligence gathering is necessary to combat threats, the blanket collection of all Americans’ records is excessive and that the public will continue to demand stronger safeguards. The dialogue ends with a light‑hearted exchange but underscores the core criticism that the proposed reforms are insufficient and that meaningful privacy protection requires more than merely moving data storage to a private contractor.
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The reforms I'm proposing today should give the American people greater confidence that their rights are being protected, even as our intelligence and law enforcement agencies maintain the tools they need to keep us safe.
President trying to calm Americans who are concerned that the government is spying on them.
A whole spying scandal, if you remember, it started about 7 months ago when former NSA analyst Edward Snowden started divulging secret methods of the National Security Agency. Well, under pressure over privacy concerns, President Barack Obama announced changes to the handling of the collection and the storage of intelligence information, including our phone records. He wants to keep collecting that telephone data, but he wants a third party to store it, not the National Security Agency or any other spy agency. Big developments here. Let's talk about them with McAfee Online Security expert Robert Siciliano, live from our Beacon Hill studio. Uh, Robert, thanks for Thank you for joining us. Do you think that the president's changes are enough?
No.
No.
Wow. Okay.
Why?
Well, because, you know, the damage is done. They're still collecting phone records. And regardless of if a third party stores them, they're still going to have access to them. It doesn't seem to me that this is a real genuine fix to a real problem.
I agree with you, Robert. When I heard the fact that there's still going to be a body that will store those phone records of just everyday Americans, it makes you pause, certainly. I wonder what's going on here. But let's talk about protecting, you know, American citizens. I mean, do we have any type of privacy at all these days?
Uh, no.
No.
We know the answer to that.
And we didn't get any further today or any developments since Snowden came out with his information to the point where we are today, correct?
Yeah, so, I mean, this has been going on now since the Cold War. The government has been collecting data forever. With the advent of the internet over the past 20 years, it's just made it that much easier for them to do so. And we're providing more information in so many different ways. We're digital in every way you can imagine today. And so the amount of information that's being collected and stored and sifted through is pretty amazing. But the point of, you know, privacy advocates is why everyday Americans? Why not just single out, you know, the bad guys? But everybody's being scooped up into that.
Do these changes protect people as private citizens?
Well, I don't see how they will, because they're still collecting the same exact information. They're just putting it from, from storing it from one place to storing it in another place. So what is that all about? That doesn't make any sense to me.
You know, is this too little too late? You had touched on that earlier. I mean, the cat's out of the bag, so to speak. I mean, is there anything that can be done? What would you do if you're in this situation?
A situation meaning what?
As president. Yeah, exactly.
You're the president, Robert.
I mean, is there anything that can be done?
Well, you know, the collecting of information on people that mean to do us harm is absolutely necessary. You know, you do need to do that to protect our critical infrastructure. So there's no question about it. There are bad people doing bad things, and it's good to get information on them. To have that intelligence gives the good guys an upper hand. So that's a good thing. But why collect it on Maria Stephanos? I mean, she's a good girl. So why give up Margaret?
As far as we know.
Oh, see, I knew someone was going to say it. Go ahead, I don't care. I can take it.
She is indeed, yes. So go ahead. So exactly right, to my point. I mean, do we really need to be wasting our time on that?
We—
no.
So I think that they have the capability to collect information on those they actually need to collect it on, opposed to simply just scooping it all up. I mean, there's ways to do it. They have the technology to scoop it all up. But you never know.
You never know, but you never know, right?
That's what's like— that's the argument of finding a needle in a haystack. Oftentimes when you talk about all people are good versus those that are bad—
did you forget to shut your phone off, Robert?
That wasn't me, that was your guy.
All right, so you know what I'm trying to say. You never know with people. So how do you— I mean, yeah, there are people who raise red flags, but then there are people who don't raise red flags, and then the damage is too done because then you never know what ends up happening with them.
Yeah, it's kind of like they're damned if they do and damned if they don't. But the reality of it is the public is not going stop screaming about how they don't like this until something's done about it. And my feeling is eventually they're going to have to actually do this the right way, the way the public wants, because I don't see the public backing down anytime soon.
I'm sorry that I accused you of that being your phone. I want you to have a great weekend. And I made you the president. Does that sort of make up for that accusation?
I'll take it.
You're a good guy. All right, McAfee Online Security expert Robert Siciliano, thank you very much.
