Privacy group presses Obama on policy

Barack Obama has already been approached by the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Barack Obama is being lobbied by privacy advocates for stricter protections just days after his election victory.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has posted a wish-list for the incoming president, urging Obama to support ordinary citizens and repeal several laws from the Bush administration.

Headlining the list is the repeal of the FISA Amendments Act. The controversial legislation was passed earlier this year and signed into law by Bush.

The legislation gives telcos that had cooperated with information requests from the National Security Agency immunity from civil lawsuits.

The EFF had strongly opposed the original plan to shield telcos and the revised 'compromise' which only partially rolled back the protections.

Also on the list of requests for Obama is a commitment to rely less on the state secrets privilege, which allows the White House to withhold information it deems pertinent to national security.

The privacy group claims that the Bush administration relied on the privilege far too often, including in its efforts to prevent investigation of its electronic spying programme.

"The new administration should voluntarily reduce its use of the privilege, and work with Congress to reform the privilege and ensure that claims of state secrecy are subject to independent judicial scrutiny," said the EFF.

Other requests on the list include strengthening the Electronic Communications Privacy Act to prevent government spying, and a complete repeal of the Real ID national identification programme.

Many in the tech world are optimistic about the Obama administration's ability to work with the technology industry.

Obama made greater use of the internet for his campaign and advocacy programmes than any presidential candidate to date, and has already vowed to appoint the first national chief technology officer following his inauguration.