Republican senator from Kentucky Rand Paul Tells Against NSA Data Collection

Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul sparked applause from a tech-heavy audience Saturday when he criticized the government's bulk collection of data but drew a more tepid response for his opposition to so-called net neutrality.

Appearing at a tech start-up office space in the South of Mission district, Paul reiterated his stance against the National Security Agency collecting and storing data on nearly every American's phone calls. The practice, aimed at preventing terrorism, has divided Republican presidential candidates.

Tech entrepreneurs, typically zealous in guarding their online privacy, welcomed Paul's pledge to rein in U.S. intelligence agencies' broad data captures of phone calls and Internet use.

"The NSA doesn't need to be recording all of our phone calls," said Paul, a Republican senator from Kentucky. He added, "There's not one other candidate ... willing to say, 'On Day One, I'd stop it all. I'd end all bulk collection of records.'"

Congress is debating the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act, which is set to expire on June 1. Supporters of the surveillance law, including presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., say it's critical to anti-terrorism efforts. Paul and fellow Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, see the law as a privacy infringement.