Uncle Sam has access to your financial records

Anon wrote "....The Bank

Anon wrote "....The Bank Secrecy Act authorizes the Treasury Department to require financial institutions to maintain records of personal financial transactions that "have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax and regulatory investigations and proceedings...."

What formulae is used to obtain this "high degree of usefulness" when funds are transfered to one person from another or via different accounts in the same name.

Governments must conduct SOME sensitive business behind closed doors. For example if there was a lower limit either in dollars or regularity, then publishing this or these limits would be self defeating in purpose.

The amount of forms that get filed to the government in any forms go largely unchecked, unless something has to go back to the "customer", passports birth certificate forms that sort of thing. If it's a notice, it's just a notice which gets filed away put on a database and forgotten about until something bad happens and it's later found out to be a clear pointer, like a Nostradamus prophecy.

There is no liberty that can be given up to the government, because it is not theirs to take away. Only when people stop questioning governmental practices will people resemble cattle than Human Beings.

Freedom and way of life is a state of mind. There are still laws and personal moral choices that individuals choose not to cross every day.

The lack of publicity especially concerning the CIA involvement in tracking European funds is somewhat disconcerting as there are police forces in the host countries that should and are able to do their part for more effectively and less covertly than the CIA. Why isn't this being discussed on Sky News, or the BBC? Do people really not care that their information once it gets transfered or copied to a source is open to security leaks and abuse?

The phrase "Innocent men have nothing to fear", personally fills me with dread, not because I'm not an innocent person, but because that's something the inquisition would say before pulling your finger nails out and telling you to admit to the charges that aren't explained.

Ben Franklin is rolling over

Ben Franklin is rolling over in his grave. And if you don't understand the reference, you're too clueless about history to even try to defend the egregious actions by the current Administration all in the name of "Security".

God! I am SO sick of the "if

God! I am SO sick of the "if you have nothing to hide" argument/mentality! Whoever thinks like that is a fool! How many German Jews in the 30's and 40's had "nothing to hide" and blindly went along with THAT government. Wake up America, before we can't get back up that slippery slope.

If you think this is

If you think this is something new...I have a bridge i would like to sell to you...furthermore, if you have nothing to hide...what are you worrying about...this is nothing but junk journalism in hope of creating a problem for the current administration...pure junky journalism...

I am outraged at the lack of

I am outraged at the lack of outrage in this country as to what the corrupt bush Administration and his corporate cabal is doing in the name of "security". Bush is destroying our rights and freedoms, not the terrorists. I think this quote sums it up very nicely: "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." -- Harry S Truman

Is nice to see that a few US

Is nice to see that a few US citizens get so agitated by something done by the US government - but it is still YOUR government.

The CIA has used Switch to monitor european transactions as well - meaning our financial transactions has been monitored by a FOREIGN government. And there is no subpoena that can legalize that.

DaveD has it right. Here is

DaveD has it right. Here is a short definition of the Bank Secrecy Act from Privacilla. Please notice how the name makes you feel like the govt. is trying to protect you when in actuality it protects your information from everyone EXCEPT the govt. Yes, I do work in a bank. Everyone employed by a financial institution is familiar with BSA.

The Bank Secrecy Act

Though most people do not know it, financial institutions are required by the federal government to spy on their customers. Congress authorized the Treasury Department to require them to do so in the Bank Secrecy Act.

The Bank Secrecy Act authorizes the Treasury Department to require financial institutions to maintain records of personal financial transactions that "have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax and regulatory investigations and proceedings." It also authorizes the Treasury Department to require any financial institution to report any "suspicious transaction relevant to a possible violation of law or regulation." These reports, called "Suspicious Activity Reports" are filed with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN").

This is done secretly, without the consent or knowledge of bank customers, any time a financial institution decides that a transaction is "suspicious." The reports are made available electronically to every U.S. Attorney's Office and to 59 law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Secret Service, and Customs Service. A law enforcement agency does not have to be suspicious of an actual crime before it accesses a report, and no court order, warrant, subpoena, or even written request is needed. Law enforcement agencies can, and allegedly do, download the entire harvest of new information from FinCEN whenever they want it.

I have a tendency to agree

I have a tendency to agree with Dan on this matter, because there are some things (in my opinion) that need to happen in order to keep US citizens safe. I like the country I live in, with all of it's freedoms, even if that means we have to deal with some growing pains.

I WAS stunned by the NYT article, simply becuase I had no idea (as a citizen) that this kind of thing was happening. It makes sense on some level, yes, but it also means that I need to be much more diligent in my own personal security. Aggregated and mined banking information, especially at the level the NYT article makes it sound that this is, is a danger for banking customers.

It takes only a glance at daily headlines to learn just how unprotected personal information is by the organizations that collect it. This means as citizens we should be aware. It also means as companies we should be more aggresive in our protection of our customers. It has to be a two way street or the breaches will go on forever.

Back to the original point, to remain the America that we know (and hopefully love) we have to be willing to discuss, thoughtfully, what it will HONESTLY take to protect America.

What makes you think the

What makes you think the government is not routinely mining such data? Does anything this administration has done give any assurance that they respect privacy or human rights in any form? The astonishing blind spot that conservative apologists never acknowledge is that the laws designed to insure transparency are being ignored. There is no oversight being exercised in these fishing expeditions, and those whose rights are trampled will never know about it. Democracy? Liberty? Those are archaic notions that no longer apply in this country.

What surprises me, is that

What surprises me, is that this surprises you - and others.

Banks have been required to report large transactions for some time now - to or from anyone, anywhere.

Seems to make a lot of sense to me, and I'm a Republican, yet a liberal, a Viet Nam Vet and in favor of having never invaded Iraq.

It's far too easy for folks to take advantage of the power of e-anything and new forms of communication to do bad things. Why then is it off-limits to assume our law enforcement agencies should not use this same power?

I do not yet, see this as an infringment on my rights.

I have to register my car, my business, my marriage, my home purchase, my driveway and my income. So what am I to think about the holders of all this information using it to make sure me and my wife are not selling stolen guns from the trunk of our car, sitting in the driveway of our condo?

Kinda makes you feel warm and safe knowing I'm not. Right?

Now the first time I find out they're data mining this info so someone like George Bush can be re-elected, like say...Nixon did, or maybe attempt to cover up the Iran Contra affair, then I get real worried.