Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Tech Giants Say Government Spying Curbs Freedoms; 1,500 Flights Canceled Nationwide Today; Icy Roads Causing Slew of Accidents; Presidents, First Ladies Reunite for Nelson Mandela Memorial; Teens Charged for Letting Friend Drive Drunk; Air Force Band Surprises Museum Tourists

Aired December 09, 2013 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Bottom of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

Some of the top tech companies, firms like Google, which profit from customers' private information, are calling on the feds to curb data mining by the government. You have eight of the firms, they have now sent this open letter to the president of the United States, to Congress, and I will quote from it now.

Quote: "The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual, rights that are enshrined in our Constitution." It goes on. "This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It's time for a change."

The names of the firms are all at the bottom there for you to see. Now, this appears to be a reaction to the Edward Snowden leaks which have served to shine a light on government spying and data collection, which some of these firms have actually aided to one extent or another.

So, with me now from Washington, Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

So, Mark, welcome to you. Nice to have you on.

The question I'm hearing is, who are these companies to be talking, because some of them know more about me and the government, you know, than maybe even the government does?

MARC ROTENBERG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: It's a great question, Brooke.

Let me say first of all that we do support the effort to strengthen privacy protections for Internet users, so we do agree with the companies about the need for a strong Fourth Amendment protection.

And so we support --

BALDWIN: That said --

ROTENBERG: But that said, and I think your question gets right to the point, these companies, of course, have collected themselves an enormous amount of personal information about Internet users, probably far more than they should.

They keep it for much longer than they should.

We have favored strong privacy laws for many years which the companies oftentimes oppose.

Now, they're saying that they'd like to see better privacy, but it's mostly at this point about their privacy, not quite so much about their users.

BALDWIN: These companies -- the companies here are asking for less government power to collect information, to collect -- more accountability, they're saying, more information as to data-mining requests by the government.

Marc, are these Internet upstarts, are they willing to use their own power on behalf of we the consumer?

ROTENBERG: Well, they certainly haven't done as much as they could.

For example, we would like to see a lot more encryption. That basically means encoding the information about users that the companies are collecting.

They have been reluctant to do that, except for the last of couple years --

BALDWIN: Why is that?

ROTENBERG: -- really bad.

Originally, they said it would be too costly. It would be too cumbersome. They didn't want to be hassled with it.

Now they have a real problem. The NSA is going after their servers, going after their networks, so they're all rushing to encrypt the user data.

They could have done that a long time ago.

BALDWIN: There is legislation that is pending right now that essentially is echoing what these eight tech giants now say they're pushing.

Do you see the Tim Cooks and Mark Zuckerbergs of the world, do you see them climbing the steps of Congress to lobby for this, Marc?

ROTENBERG: I haven't bumped into them in Washington, at least not recently.

BALDWIN: Not yet.

ROTENBERG: So I'd like to see that happen, certainly, and we could use their support on some of those privacy bills.

But, again, I think we need to talk more about the amount of personal information that the companies themselves are collecting.

That's the reason that the law enforcement agencies and the intelligence agencies go to them. They have the data.

And, if they didn't collect so much data, they'd be a less attractive target for the government agencies.

BALDWIN: Marc Rotenberg, thank you.

Ah, to the world of weather, it is messy out there for so many of you. Air passengers on the East Coast being told to be patient today. More than 1,500 flights have been canceled, stranding passengers at airports nationwide, and 2,600 flights, they were nixed Sunday.

And no milk, no bread, CNN iReporter Mohammed Khan took pictures of empty shelves at a grocery store in Texas. He say his kids are still home from school today because the roads are still too treacherous.

And those slippery roads aren't just in Texas. Look at this pile-up, this is Yonkers, New York. More than 30 people were hurt after icy roads caused that massive pile-up early this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh! Oh, my god!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Oh, my god is right. Think about this. People living in this Dallas suburb had to deal with this, sheets of ice cascading from buildings onto cars. Wonder how those windows are looking now, post- ice sheet.

Keep this in mind. There are 12 days to go until the official start of winter, and this is what we're seeing already.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Richfield, New Jersey, for us and Chad Myers at the CNN Weather Center.

But, Rosa, let's begin with you. There's another storm on the way, correct? And road crews getting ready for that?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right. And you know, visibility has been a huge issue all day long.

And emergency management officials have been saying this is not the time to be on your cell phone while you're driving, zero distractions, focus on the road and be safe.

Let me set the scene for you here right now. Like you mentioned, we're in New Jersey. You're taking a look at the New Jersey turnpike.

Earlier today, we saw low clouds. As you can see, the conditions have improved greatly. Traffic is moving fairly well at this hour, but the office of emergency management did tell us because this storm moved from south to north in the state of New Jersey, they saw a lot of flooding and ponding throughout the day in the southern parts of the state.

And as the day progressed, they saw that move to the northern parts of the state.

But hear this. What they tell us is that they're expecting the temperatures to drop before freezing, so you know exactly what that means, that a lot of that water, a lot of that ponding could turn into ice overnight.

And so they say, they tell us that they're expecting very treacherous conditions on bridges, overpasses, and untreated roads.

We've been talking to a lot of drivers here, and here's what one had to say. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENT SMITH, TRAVELER: Yeah, just follow the car in front of you, and don't try to do anything bold. That's all.

You don't want to be one of those people that are spun out on the side of the road. That's the trick.

So don't be bold. Follow the car in front of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And then the added advice to that, of course, is you don't want to follow too closely. Keep plenty of space between you and the car in front of you to make sure that you get plenty of reaction time.

Now, I also talked to the department of transportation here in New Jersey and they tell us they're always bracing for the worst.

They have about 2,000 pieces of equipment throughout the state, and overnight last night, they used about 800 of those to spread sand and to plow the roads.

Right now, they're determining, they're trying to figure out exactly how much of that equipment they'll need overnight because, Brooke, like you mentioned, more of this is coming.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: More of it is coming. Rosa Flores, stay warm. Thank you.

Chad, if more is coming, who bears the brunt of this?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It starts out in D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City.

A brand-new winter advisory issued, I just heard the alarm go off, for New York City for tomorrow.

Now, it's not going to be overnight. We're not going to see Ridgewood get snow overnight, but it's going to start tomorrow morning and then run through the afternoon.

And you may even see some TV stations put these announcements out that your school is going to close early. So, keep that in meantime, that your child may be coming home before you think tomorrow if they actually do get that kind of snow.

You know what, Brooke, I've got a question for you.

BALDWIN: Yeah?

MYERS: You were on an airplane yesterday, right? How many empty seats were on your airplane?

BALDWIN: Zero.

MYERS: Zero.

BALDWIN: There were people fighting to get on my plane to come up here to New York. It was a mess at the airport.

MYERS: Just rough addition in my head, 8,000 flights, plus or minus, were canceled between Friday and now.

Let's say a hundred people per flight. That's 800,000 people that have to find another way home or to business or whatever.

That's why the planes are busy. That's why the planes are full, and in some spots, they are still very, very slow, New York, LaGuardia, Philadelphia, two hours at least and a lot more to go.

There's a lot more snow to come. Some of the bigger snow totals we've seen so far, 12 in Newark, Delaware, maybe another two to three on top of that. D.C., you get three to five, so does Philly, Baltimore, and New York City.

BALDWIN: Grateful to have my seat on the plane. We'll see if I'm able to get home, Chad Myers. Chad, thank you very much.

MYERS: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: The presidential plane, speaking of travel. It's on its way to South Africa to honor the man, the icon, Nelson Mandela.

Three first ladies, two presidents, all onboard Air Force One, can you just imagine? Ah, to be a fly on the wall. The conversations inside of this plane.

We'll talk about that and what's ahead in Johannesburg on CNN, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Heads of state from all around the world, they are all heading to south Africa to attend memorial services for nelson Mandela. That includes a deep bench from the U.S. delegation.

In fact, Air Force One took off earlier today. Look at the crowd, President Obama, first lady, also former president and first lady George W. and Laura Bush, and another former first lady, Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton, by the way, flies into Johannesburg tomorrow. He had something else going on.

I believe Jake tapper is here with me. More on the -- what should we call this, "The Presidents' Club?"

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD": The most exclusive frequent flier club in the world, perhaps.

Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton are down in Rio doing an event and then they'll meet the rest of the family in Johannesburg.

This could be the biggest gathering of heads of state since the Winston Churchill funeral in 1965. It's amazing.

What is also interesting, you would think sometimes it would get awkward on the flights. Obama has spent a lot of time blaming things on his predecessor.

BALDWIN: You've got to wonder.

TAPPER: But in reality, this long flights have actually forged some of the most longest-lasting friendships between former presidents, the former presidents club, that have ever happened.

For instance, in 1999, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush flew to King Hussein's funeral, King Hussein of Jordan, and they formed a very strong bond on that long flight.

Because when you think of it, there's no other opportunity that guys like this would actually have, and an opportunity where they can spent hours and hours and hours talking about --

BALDWIN: You're stuck there.

TAPPER: You're stuck there. You can't go anywhere. It's hours and hours ,and you're in the trappings of a place that only you and a few other people know about it.

It also happened after the Sadat funeral. President Reagan decided not to go. He sent Nixon, Ford, and Carter. Ford and Carter, bitter rivals, ran against each other in '76, actually became life-long close friends, in part because of that trip, especially on the way back.

Again, hours and hours talking to each other, Carter agreed to come and host some events at the Ford Library, Ford agreed to host some events at the Carter Library.

I'm not making promises, but I'm saying strange things are afoot.

BALDWIN: Tapper, I can't wait to see what you're cooking up on this today. We'll be watching you at the top of the hour on "THE LEAD." Thank you, my friend. Strange things are afoot, he says.

Coming up, though, a tragic story with an unusual legal twist, a 17- year-old gets behind the wheel. She crashes. She dies.

And now her teen friends are facing charges for allowing her to drive in the first place. Should they be responsible? We're "On the Case," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here's a question. Can you be held responsible for allowing someone else to get behind the wheel drunk?

A case in Connecticut is tackling that issue head on. Seventeen-year- old Jane Modlesky was driving alone in Glastonbury when she crashed her SUV into a tree and was killed.

Her blood alcohol level was .27. That's three times the legal adult alcohol limit.

Now, two of the four teenagers driving with her are being held accountable for allowing her to drive drunk.

Police say their inaction cost their friend her life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AGENT JAMES KENNEDY, GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT, POLICE: These two juveniles knew that she was intoxicated, knew she shouldn't have been driving and allowed her to drive.

There are so many things that could have been done, so many things, and worried about getting in trouble for sneaking out, is that really that important?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The boys are facing misdemeanor charges for being an accessory to the crime.

And, joining me now, criminal defense attorney Randy Zelin.

So, Randy, we were talking in commercial break, I was asking about this case. I just want you to explain how you're watching as an attorney this timeline of events, right?

You want to make sure there are no gaps. You've got to connect the dots.

RANDY ZELIN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Exactly. The old game of connect the dots.

What is reasonable doubt? Reasonable doubt is simply any time you need to make a very important decision, if you don't have enough information to make that decision, that's reasonable doubt. BALDWIN: You're saying there were gaps in this timeline.

ZELIN: Yes. Remember what's odd about this case is the boys who have been charged actually got out of the car before the victim here started to drive.

So, right now, no one can explain what happened once the boys got out of the car. We don't know whether or not she went to a liquor store and got more alcohol to drink, if she stopped at a friend's house, if she pulled out a bottle from her pocketbook.

Believe me, I'm not bashing a victim. This is horrible. But here's the thing. Every crime may be a tragedy, but not every tragedy is a crime.

And if we said to a 16-year-old, you're not old enough to make a decision to drink, how do we then say to a 16-year-old, but we think that you should know enough to not let someone else drink?

We're trying to fix a real tragedy, but this is not the way to go about doing it.

BALDWIN: How rare is this to charge teenagers for basically inaction, for not stopping their friend from driving drunk? Does this happen and we just don't talk about it, or no?

ZELIN: I don't think it's all that common. One of the ways that you know that is you look at the charges here.

You have a young woman who died which means you technically have a homicide, yet the boys were only charged with reckless endangerment and not as a Class A misdemeanor but as a Class B misdemeanor. which is the lowest form of reckless endangerment.

To me, from a criminal defense standpoint, that is almost law enforcement saying, you know, we kind of get it here. We really don't have what we should have because otherwise, like we've seen in so many cases where there are overcharges, you charge a homicide.

BALDWIN: But they didn't in this case. They didn't in this case.

We'll follow it. Thank you so much.

ZELIN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Randy Zelin, I appreciate you.

Coming up next, the day's hottest pop culture stories, including Carrie Underwood responding to critics, Ellen's Christmas card that's getting a lot of attention -- if you haven't seen it, stick around -- and a surprise flash mob at the unlikeliest of places.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Tourists at the Air and Space Museum in Washington got this unexpected treat when a young man in an Air Force uniform emerged from the crowd, sat down with a cello and began playing Bach. Then a conductor arrives and by ones, twos and threes, other members of the Air Force Band materialized out of virtually nowhere.

Before long it was a bona fide flash mob, filling the museum with gorgeous music, the United States Air Force Band doing their part to spread a little holiday cheer, bravo to them, absolutely beautiful.

And now to this, the next time folks check movie show times online, they may be checking stock prices as well. That's the first story in today's "CNN Pop."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: As AMC Theatres gets ready to go public, it is offering loyal customers a chance to buy stock. Members will be able to lock up shares at the same price offered to Wall Street bigwigs.

Hey, critics, Carrie Underwood doesn't care. After getting heat online for her performance in TV's "Sound of Music," the country star fires back, tweeting, "Plain and simple, mean people need Jesus. They will be in my prayers tonight."

First, a couple of Hollywood jokesters spoof Kanye West's bizarre music video, and now Ellen DeGeneres, so inspired by Kimye, she and Portia decided it would make a pretty awesome Christmas card.

And the first couple, bringing the funk, the president and first lady honoring a good mix of legends at the Kennedy Center. They include Shirley MacLaine, Carlos Santana and the "Piano Man" himself.

And that's today's "CNN Pop."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: And before I let you go, a quick reminder, in case you missed any piece of this show, you can always go to the Brooke Blog to check it out, CNN.com/Brooke.

Let me remind you, we did have Melissa Etheridge on as a guest. She was talking about this group, "Uprising of Love," raising awareness of LGBT issues, specifically in Russia, ahead of what's happening with the Sochi Olympic Games.

And she did -- I was able to find a guitar, and there was music that happened here, live at CNN. You don't want to miss that. We will put that on the Brooke Blog.

And, also, tonight, it's a show I'm hosting at 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific. It is called "ICYMI," "In Case You Missed It," really just showcasing the best moments of CNN through the day.

This is why we love what we do what we do here on CNN. I will see you then.

Meantime, "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.