After months of embarrassing leaks that showed the scope of the US National Security Agency’s data collection has far exceeded what most people believe should have been boundaries, US President Barack Obama and allies in Congress are proposing legislation that would end the National Security Agency's collection and storage of massive amounts of Americans' phone records.

Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden showed that the NSA collects massive amounts of electronic data from communications of private individuals around the world, and has spied on foreign leaders.  Obama says the government needs to win back the peoples’ trust.

“And so it’s going to be necessary for us – the step we took that was announced today I think is an example of us slowly, systematically putting in more checks, balances, legal processes.  The good news is that I'm very confident that it can be achieved,” said President Obama from a nuclear conference at The Hague.

Through his representatives in the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the fugitive Edward Snowden said, “President Obama has now confirmed that these mass surveillance programs, kept secret from the public and defended out of reflex rather than reason, are in fact unnecessary and should be ended.”

The White House says the proposal would keep people’s mobile phone and email data outside of government while allowing access for national security reasons.