WASHINGTON - Citing complaints that new rules could turn every bank teller into a cop, a Texas lawmaker is proposing legislation aimed at protecting the financial privacy of Americans. The far-reaching legislative package unveiled Wednesday by Republican Rep. Ron Paul would, among other things, block proposed anti-money laundering rules that would track the habits of bank customers. At least two federal banking agencies are reconsidering the proposed "Know Your Customer" rules in response to the public outcry that started in December. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., for example, had received more than 14,000 e-mail messages and letters opposing the proposal as of Friday. [continues 497 words]
New proposed federal regulations will convert banks into conspirators against their depositors. The "Know Your Customer" rules, announced last month in the Federal Register, could be a landmark in the history of the subversion of American privacy and property rights. But enough Americans may yet rally in time to block this power grab. The new rules vastly expand the number and types of private activities that bankers must report to federal overseers. The effect will be to treat law- abiding citizens like drug kingpins. Under the new rules, banks must "determine its customers' sources of funds, determine, understand and monitor the normal and expected transactions of its customers, and report appropriately any transactions of its customers that are determined to be unusual or inconsistent." [continues 802 words]
WASHINGTON (Wired) - US banks must monitor their customers and alert federal officials to "suspicious" behavior under a government plan that has drawn fire as an Orwellian intrusion into Americans' privacy. A set of proposed regulations released last Monday requires banks to review every customer's "normal and expected transactions" and tip off the IRS and federal law enforcement agencies if the behavior is unusual. "It turns us into surveillance agents for the government," said John Ehrensperger, compliance director for Atlanta-based Sun Trust Bank. Ehrensperger stressed that he was not speaking on behalf of his employer. [continues 951 words]
Journalist and author Richard Reeves, when I talked to him in the early 1980s on a book-flogging tour, expressed fascination that the mainstream media - presumably the people closest to important events - during his lifetime had missed most of the significant political trends until they were already well-established - from the beginning of the civil rights movement to the rise of Goldwaterism to opposition to the Vietnam was to the late-1970s tax rebellion. I suspect they have also missed the most significant trend to be discerned from the 1998 elections. [continues 836 words]
