Ted Poe: “The PATRIOT Act was designed to protect us from terrorists abroad. Now we have learned that section 215 of the PATRIOT…”

“The PATRIOT Act was designed to protect us from terrorists abroad. Now we have learned that section 215 of the PATRIOT Act has been abused by the NSA, and it is spying on Americans, taking metadata. But there is more. There is another law. The FISA Amendments Act of 2008, section 702, allows the seizure, without a warrant, of the content of emails, text messages, and phone calls by our government. Congress must address this, as it has addressed section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. It also allows, under 702, the backdoor search; in other words, NSA can go into Google and seize information about Americans without a warrant. NSA cannot be trusted to protect and follow America's laws that protect our privacy. This Soviet-style surveillance on Americans has got to stop. The right of privacy is sacred. I have introduced, along with Zoe Lofgren, a bipartisan bill to eliminate section 702 so that Americans are protected. We cannot allow the bruising of the Fourth Amendment by the snooping NSA under the false claim of national security. If you have probable cause to seize that information, get a warrant under the Constitution of the United States. And that is just the way it is. ____________________”