Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced a bill to...

and reassert Fourth Amendment protections for records held by third parties,” said Paul in a news release Thursday. “In today’s high-tech world, we must ensure that all forms of communication are protected,” he said. “Congress has passed a variety of laws that decimate our Fourth Amendment protections. In effect, it means that Americans can only count on Fourth Amendment protections if they don’t use e-mail, cell phones, the Internet, credit cards, libraries, banks, or other forms of modern finance and communications.” Separately, 57 groups representing civil liberties and public interest groups said in a letter sent Friday to Attorney General Eric Holder the Justice Department’s “overreaching subpoena of AP phone records sets a dangerous precedent.” “The Obama administration promised a new era of openness and transparency. Your actions, which expand secrecy and intimidate those trying to shed more light on our government, run counter to that promise,” the letter said. The groups asked Holder to provide a “full accounting” of the department’s targeting of journalists and whistleblowers and “explain its overreach in this matter.” Signers included the ACLU, Center for Democracy and Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation, American Library Association and Common Cause.