Brad Smith called on Congress and the White House to stop "the unfettered collection of bulk data."

"I want law enforcement to do its job in an effective way pursuant to the rule of law," he said at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.. "If we can't get to that world, then law enforcement is going to have a bleak future anyway."

Smith warned it's important to confront those who support unlimited surveillance now.

"By the end of this decade there will be 50 billon devices connected to the Internet of Things around the world," he said. "This issue is going to become more important, not less."

His comments came as the tech giant is pushing back against a U.S. demand that Microsoft hand over data from a customer in Ireland.