By Michael Webster Investigative Reporter
The Patriot Act was passed into law on October 24, 2001 by the Congress of the United States, just 45 days after the September 11 attacks, with virtually no debate. There are significant flaws in the Patriot Act, flaws that threaten your fundamental freedoms by giving the government the power to access your medical records, tax records, information about the books you buy or borrow without probable cause, and the power to break your door down at your home and conduct unconstitutional searches or if your not home search your home or business in secret without telling you for weeks, months, or even indefinitely.
You should be very uncomfortable with the collection of your records by the government which are using the Patriot Act to demand your social security number and other private financial or medical information by order of secret courts and the muzzling of those citizens who receive such orders from speaking publicly about them. This is a violation of both the 1st and 4th amendment. You should also oppose the collection of both private and business records by banks, pharmacies and other businesses which are using the Patriot Act to demand your social security number and other private financial or medical information.
Recent criticism of Bush's admission that he had received warnings only weeks before September 11th has made it more important to understand the origins of the act. There has never been a more urgent need to preserve fundamental privacy protections and our system of checks and balances than the need we face today. As illegal government spying, provisions of the Patriot Act and government-sponsored torture programs transcend the bounds of law and our most treasured values in the name of national security and just the allegation of suspected terrorist activity be it true or not.
The Act was recently extended and updated. You can read the Patriot Act online at this site: www.epic.org.
Financial
Transactions
The
sections of the Patriot Act that deal with financial transactions fall under
Title III, which is also known as the International Money Laundering Abatement
and Financial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001. It stands on its own as a separate act
of Congress as well as being part of the Patriot Act, and is an amended version
of the 1986 Money Laundering Control Act and the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act. The
earlier acts tended to focus on preventing money laundering and international
cash flow as it related to the drug trade, or to gambling, smuggling, and other
types of criminal activity. In the 2001 version, the focus has shifted towards
money laundering as a means of financing international terrorism.
The current
act encourages financial institutions to collect certain data to identify
customers and their transactions in case any of the activity should be flagged
as “suspicious” by a government agency. “Suspicious” in most cases means
involving any foreign nationals or corporations. The Patriot Act considers any
such accounts or transactions worthy of intense scrutiny. (Although the scrutiny
will, of course, be more severe for certain nationalities than for others.)
What if you are a US-born, US citizen, do not have any arrest record, and are
not involved in any type of criminal activity? If you’d just like to open a bank
account or engage in another banking transaction, can a bank force you to
provide your social security number? How about fingerprinting you? Is either of
these strictly required by law? Not exactly – although if you do not wish to
provide your social security number you will have to obtain an alternate
taxpayer identification number. This information (along with your name, address,
and date of birth) is used as part of the required Customer Identification
Program (CIP) used to verify customer identity (and to compare customer
information with lists of known terrorist suspects). Such information may also
be required by other money service businesses such as currency exchanges. All
having the effect of the financial institution acting as agent to and for the US
Government.
Fingerprints are not a requirement of the Patriot Act, and they are certainly
not required by all financial institutions – so if your bank insists on this
procedure, you may wish to take your business elsewhere.
Cash
Transactions
Cash
transactions are certainly not prohibited, but they bring more government
scrutiny, and they are now more inconvenient for certain vendors to process. If
you deposit, withdraw, or make a purchase involving more than $10,000 in cash in
one day, the other agency involved has to file a Currency Transaction Report
(CTR) with the IRS that reports details such as your name, address, and taxpayer
identification number. If you purchase over $3,000 of traveler’s checks,
money
orders, or cashier’s checks, such a
transaction
will also be reported to the IRS via a Monetary Instrument Log (MIL). And should
you engage in any activity that indicates you may be engaged in money laundering
or otherwise violating the law, your transaction may even trigger your being put
on the no fly list and on the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR). The SAR will be
filed without your knowledge – it is, in fact, against the law for you to be
informed of the SAR as your knowledge would compromise the subsequent
investigation.
More
Information:
Asset Protection Info:
http://www.firstglobaltreasury.com/idevaffiliate/idevaffiliate.php?id=106 http://www.stegostik.co.uk/FGToffer.asp?a=106
AML Programs
Reporting Suspicious Activity
Verifying the Identity of Customers
Due Diligence Measures for Certain Accounts Involving Foreign Persons
Special Measures
Transactions in Excess of $10,000 in Currency
Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts
International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments
Information Sharing among Financial Institutions and Law Enforcement
Additional Resources