(CNN) -- A watchdog group meant to guard Americans' right to privacy against overreach by government cyberintelligence has been around for years. If that makes you feel safer, consider this: It had no leader until May, and lawmakers delayed for years to fully staff it. President Barack Obama met with the group for the first time Friday over the phone and e-mail record-gathering scandal involving the National Security Agency. The president wants to enlist the group to "structure a national conversation" on government cyberintelligence and civil rights. Who are the watchdogs? The group is called the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), and though it was created in 2004, it does not appear to have been very active.
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NEW: Obama meets with watchdog group
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The group is meant to protect civil liberties against government cybersecurity overreach
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PCLOB was founded in 2004 but critics complain it never really existed
Five years later, the @placeholder really only existed on paper, a group of conservative libertarians complained.