Americans give privacy top priority over security post Snowden leaks

Majority of Americans gives privacy more importance over security after revelations that the Obama administration carried out secret surveillance programmes at a massive scale.

Americans are not impressed with President Barack Obama's efforts to restore trust in government after disclosures about secret surveillance programmes, which swept up phone records of hundreds of millions in the United States.

A new poll found that Americans are increasingly placing personal privacy ahead of being kept safe from terrorists,

The new Associated Press-GfK Poll found that more than 60% of respondents said they value privacy over anti-terror protections.

According to Politico, Obama has been trying to regain public trust after former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden last year revealed some of the intelligence community's most well-kept secrets about spying on Americans.

The US public, Congress and allies overseas were shocked to learn the extent of the NSA's post-9/11 surveillance.

Soon after Snowden's disclosure in June, Obama promised to review the system that has changed rapidly as technology improved.

Last week Obama announced he was placing new limits on the way the intelligence community accesses phone records from hundreds of millions of Americans.

The poll found that nearly 60% of respondents disapprove of the way Obama is handling intelligence surveillance policies.

Nearly 61 percent said they prioritize protecting Americans' rights and freedoms over making sure Americans are safe from terrorists.

Only 17 percent support moving the data the government collects about telephone calls outside of government hands, the report added.