Rand: Patriot Act Info ‘Should Be Purged’

Rand Paul wants information collected under the Patriot Act to be trashed.

The bulk collection of phone data has emerged as a sticking point in the renewal of law passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that granted wide new surveillance powers to law enforcement agencies.

Paul argued that the bulk collection was the “definition of a generalized warrant” and ran afoul of the Fourth Amendment.

“There’s not a lot of public evidence that they have abused the system,” Paul conceded. “However, the abuse of the Fourth Amendment is the actual bulk collection of all of your records. There’s the potential for abuse, we’ve done it in the past,” Paul said, citing Japanese internment and harassment of Vietnam protestors. “This has a chilling effect on the right to dissent.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.