"(CNSNews.com) – Senate Democrats united to pass a financial regulatory bill that allows the government to collect data on any person operating in financial markets at any level, including the collection of personal transaction records from local banks that list customers’ addresses and ATM receipts.
....
The bill, if it becomes law, would create the frwebgate.access.gpo.gov and empower it to “gather information and activities of persons operating in consumer financial markets,” including the names and addresses of account holders, ATM and other transaction records, and the amount of money kept in each customer’s account.
The new bureaucracy is then allowed to “use the data on branches and [individual and personal] deposit accounts … for any purpose” and may keep all records on file for at least three years and these can be made publicly available upon request."
cnsnews.comcnsnews.com
Reform?
Comments
last commentAnother reason not to use CC's or the ATM at strip clubs.
Log in to vote
It is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be, about the safety, financial or otherwise, of the public. It is about control and power. Taking it away from us, and giving it to those who "know what's best for us" even if we disagree with their assessment.
Log in to vote
Well, I think the Congressional legislation is linked to this story:
nytimes.comnytimes.com
With 650,000 households living "rent free", how better to gather monies due than to empower financial bounty hunting? Some time ago (two years?) I recall a story about a mortgage debtor who missed a payment on purpose, only to realize his bank simply debited his linked accounts for the amount due. So I'm guessing the 650,000 in the Times story have their monies hidden with banks not related to their mortgage holder, or in assets like 401ks, etc. So Congress paves the way for financial bounty hunting by allowing so motivated folks to see what assets and income streams anyone of interest (ie one of the 650,000) has, which can then be presented to a court of law to obtain a judgement against the defendent and a court order for seizure of assets. The mortgage holder gets some money, the financial bounty hunter gets their take, and the 650,000 member gets their responsibility 'day of reckoning'. Problem is though, where does the law go from there? Preventing terrorism? Probably okay. Allowing someone with a personal grudge to abuse the power???
Log in to vote
This actually empowers bill collectors to a degree they never had before. Can you say "First Bank of the Mattress"?
Log in to vote
I wonder whether it's legal to employ some of the laid off talent in China and India to call homes in the U.S. about debt collection? Think of it, with their newly learned English, a bill collection agency could call themselves from 9am-5pm EST, then have their Chinese office call from 5pm-1am EST, and finally the India office call from 1am-9am EST for "round-the-clock harassment".
Log in to vote
"CNSNews" is not a real news agency. It's just a far Right-wing website masquerading as one. They do not link to the most current version of the bill, which was substantially amended on the Senate floor & was not yet publicly available as of 5/24/10.
dandodiary.com
washingtonpost.com
Log in to vote
At the risk of sounding completely out of touch here: other than "big brother", what is the motivation behind this legislation?
Log in to vote