Why Rand Paul was right to stand against the Patriot Act

The senator from Kentucky did us all a service by temporarily allowing provisions of the law to sunset

Someday I'll tell my children about a quaint time early in the new millennium when a lot of people were outraged that a law called the Patriot Act allowed the federal government to investigate an individual's checkout record from the library. Then I'll try to explain what a library card is.

Of course, there are more pressing matters at stake than the last time you borrowed the Bhagavad Gita, as Rand Paul demonstrated with a filibuster-like technique this weekend that blocked renewal of a few provisions of the law, in the name of defending Americans from the bulk collection of their phone metadata. Metadata may sound abstract, but it reveals a picture that is substantially more informative than what a private investigator could put together if he were surveilling you 24 hours a day. Your exact location, your contacts, and how often you communicate with them — together these form a pattern of behavior.

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Michael Brendan Dougherty

Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.