With people looking for effective supervision of, and serious reflection on, the United States' controversial surveillance programs, the reforms pledged by US President Barack Obama have not met expectations.

In what looks like a remedial approach to ease the concerns of US citizens about infringements on civil rights, Obama announced a number of measures on Friday to strengthen the oversight and transparency of the surveillance program. His proposals include restructuring the secret court that oversees surveillance programs in the US and reforming the Patriot Act, which provides the legal basis for data collection, as well as the setting up of a "high-level group of outside experts" to review surveillance technologies.

"It's not enough for me, as president, to have confidence in these programs; the American people need to have confidence in them as well," Obama said.