President's plan insufficient to rein in NSA, privacy advocates say

President Barack Obama's plan to stop the National Security Agency's bulk collection and storage of telephone records is a good first step that needs to go much further to protect Americans' privacy rights, advocates say.

Obama unveiled his plans Thursday, saying in a statement, "I have decided that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk."

The president went on to say that his plan would keep the data with telephone companies, which would store it for the same length of time as they do currently. The government would need a court order to access the data, except in "an emergency situation," which was not defined. The administration would need congressional approval to go forward with its plans. A group of lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill this week that would end bulk collection of telephone, email and Internet metadata. Other bills are pending in Congress.