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Sen. Ron Wyden calls for surveillance policy shift

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden is calling for a shift in surveillance policy.

In a speech delivered Friday at a Portland, Oregon, tech conference, the Oregon Democrat said surveillance agencies are able to use outdated court decisions to justify intercepting information that is private.

The government has long been able to examine records that go through a third party, like a phone call or bank transfer, without the onerous process of obtaining a search warrant. That communication is labeled as a business record.

But Wyden says the government needs to treat those communications more like paper correspondence, which has more protections.