{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-statement-on-us-district-court-ruling-on-bulk-collection-of-phone-records", "Wyden Statement on U.S. District Court Ruling on Bulk Collection of Phone Records", "2013-12-16", "2013", "2013-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Ron Wyden", "W000779", "www.wyden.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Monday, December 16, 2013\n            \n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) issued the following statement regarding the U.S. District Court\u2019s ruling\u00a0on bulk collection of phone records.\r\n\u201cJudge Leon\u2019s ruling hits the nail on the head.\u00a0 It makes clear that bulk phone records collection is intrusive digital surveillance and not simply inoffensive data collection as some have said. The court noted that this metadata can be used for \u2018repetitive, surreptitious surveillance of a citizen\u2019s private goings on,\u2019 that creates a mosaic of personal information and is likely unconstitutional. This ruling dismisses the use of an outdated Supreme Court decision affecting rotary phones as a defense for the technologically advanced collection of millions of Americans\u2019 records. It clearly underscores the need to adopt meaningful surveillance reforms that prohibit the bulk collection of Americans\u2019 records.\u201d\r\nSignificantly, the judge also noted that he had \u2018serious doubts about the efficacy of the program.\u2019\u00a0 The reason that he and many others have these doubts is that the executive branch\u2019s claims about this program\u2019s effectiveness are now crumbling under public scrutiny.\u00a0 Protecting the country from terrorism is obviously vitally important but the government can do this without collecting the phone records of massive numbers of law-abiding men, women and children.\u201d\r\n \r\nPretty astounding when a fed. judge says \"James Madison...would be aghast\" while describing a surveillance practice http://t.co/TdRLcIILXJ\r\n\u2014 Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) December 16, 2013", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-statement-on-us-district-court-ruling-on-bulk-collection-of-phone-records"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.281293971464038, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}