The Obama administration promised privacy protections for foreigners abroad, but PPD-28 fails to deliver those protections

In early 2014, still reeling from global outrage over recently uncovered surveillance programs, President Barack Obama pledged to rein in the U.S. government’s spying and boost privacy protections for people in the U.S. and abroad. His words were heartening:

“People around the world, regardless of their nationality, should know that the United States is not spying on ordinary people … and that we take their privacy concerns into account,” he said, standing in front of American flags at Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C.