The good thing is that [the proposal] improves the consent procedures.

There are established legal procedures for obtaining phone records that provide checks against improper access. These legal procedures allow fast access to phone record for law enforcement and provide accountability. That's what missing here, the accountability.

The Do Not Call registry is a great success, but a couple of problems exist, ... The main loophole is the 'established business' clause. If you go to Starbucks for coffee, technically Starbucks can call you for 18 months.

It clearly can be dangerous for some people to have this information. Imagine how costly exposure of these records could be for a business executive whose list of calls is obtained by a competitor. There can be real harm.

Through the mining of public records and the purchase of credit reporting data, private-sector companies are amassing troves of personal information on citizens for the government, ... Serious questions exist involving citizen access to profiles, their accuracy and the potential for misuse of personal information.

Companies used to bury this stuff.