Privacy is important to most investors. In today’s society, it is almost non-existent. Under U.S. law, creditors, litigants and private detectives are given the right to find our information; such as how much money a person has in the bank and his/her investment accounts. The U.S. government has broken down the walls of privacy under the banners of “crime prevention” and “national security”.
I even think most Americans believe that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is not allowed by law to snoop or even collect intelligence in the U. S. on our citizens. In fact, the controversial clandestine service of the agency has a special department called the National Resources Division. It’s sole propose is to collect information on Americans and to encourage Americans to volunteer information on other nationals they may come in contact with, here or aboard. One of the results of this type of activity can lead to investigations that often involves wiretaps. Although the agency is for bidden to directly wiretap American Citizens but not suspected terrorist one way of getting around it and they get around it by allegedly wiretapping others who you just happen to be talking with - or they just have another G8 country like England to do it for them and we will in-turn snoop on there citizens for them which is not illegal or against US congress oversight committees directives. Remember all phone calls of every kind are monitored by the NSA government computers through microwave, satellite transmissions and aircraft, all in the name of terror and national security. American businesspersons should be aware that they maybe asked some day to collect information for the agency. That activity is highly risky and can be harmful to your health. Now that the cold war is over and the Soviet Union is no longer, the CIA’s interests have shifted to global business, illegal drugs and terrorism. So they are now aggressively looking at American businesspersons and other entrepreneurs are part of their focus. The CIA claims the information they gather from Americans flows only one way, but in reality that information often benefits the politically connected and the multinationals. Another risky activity involving the NRD is the placement of undercover agents in U S corporations to gather intelligence and work without the tell tell diplomatic immunity. You should be forewarned by cooperating with the CIA in this regard can not only jeopardize you but also your company, your employees, your family and even the officer involved. According to an article written by Masimo Calabres of Time magazine wrote, “ even a hint of intrigue can be dangerous.” The piece went on to say that “Russia’s arrest, trial and pardon a while back of US businessman Edmund Pope who denied charges of spying – show just how touchy a host country can be. And there are some professionals – like the clergy or journalist – for whom even modest assistance to the CIA would be considered unethical.” It’s mainly a calculation of how much risk you’re willing to take.
Early in 2000 the Global Journal online newspaper broke the story about an FBI cybersnooping Device, code-named Carnivore, which can scan millions of e-mails
per, second. Because Carnivore has unlimited power to spy on everyone, with an e-mail account, it is the biggest known threat, to your digital privacy ever.
Almost immediately after the existence of this project was Disclosed, Globally in the Journal article, public Outrage, began to mount -- and Congress was pressured
Into, holding hearings on Carnivore.
To capitalize on the hearings held before a House Judiciary Committee panel, their was launched a campaign to "Kill the Carnivore"!
Politicians on Capitol Hill claimed they were planning to mollify the Public, by starting an "investigation" into the system, but to date nothing has been done: The goal was to stop the Carnivore in its tracks and kill it -- before it devours what little privacy we as Americans have left.
Carnivore is a hardware-software device that the FBI secretly developed at its lab in Quantico, Va. Dubbed Carnivore apparently because of its ability to find "the meat" among millions of e-mails. Carnivore scans every incoming and outgoing e-mail message on a network looking for telltale words or names, or e-mail senders and receivers and saves those messages and information for later retrieval by law enforcement and is expected to be shared with the US Government’s (NSA) worldwide top-secret Echelon system. Echelon’s purpose is worldwide surveillance, not just of other intelligence agencies, but also of civilians. And at the helm is America’s very own National Security Agency. The report details how Echelon works. Land-based antennae capture radio transmissions. Satellites catch spillover data as it travels from city to city. And Internet based “sniffer” devices scan emails and website content. Other reports prove even more disquieting. Whistle-blowers charge that intelligence agencies interested in spying on their citizenry have asked allies to do it for them, thus avoiding culpability under the laws which prevent unwarranted searches. In our country, this is nothing less than the Fourth Amendment.
Carnivore can also track instant messages, visits to websites, and Internet relay chat sessions, to name but a few of its capabilities.
The FBI admits that Carnivore will scan millions of e-mail messages from innocent people to find a tiny number of messages from so called criminals or terrorist suspected of crimes. That's no different than if the FBI opened everyone's mail hoping to find a letter from a terrorist/criminal, or listened in on everyone's phone calls just in case a crime or terror plat was being discussed.
Though Carnivore's existence was just publicly admitted to and revealed in the last few years, the FBI has already installed the device at the largest (ISP's) like Aol and Earthlink and dozens of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) around the country, and claims it has used it "fewer than 50 times" so far. In many cases, the FBI keeps the device in a locked cage on the ISP's premises, with agents making daily visits to retrieve the captured data, or even, more scary run it by remote control.
Many of the smaller ISPs have refused to allow the FBI to install Carnivore, citing concerns that the privacy of all their customers will be violated. But earlier this year, a federal judge ruled against one such ISP, leaving it no choice but to allow the FBI access to its system against their will.
Predictably, the FBI promises to limit surveillance to messages from suspects, other governments, terrorists, or drug dealers, while the whole system will remain venerable to hackers. But considering that this is the same agency that quietly inserted "roving telephone tap" authority into federal law and illegally turned over confidential personnel files to the Clinton White House, and later President Bush you shouldn't be expected to trust it with your confidential e-mails.
But Carnivore is more than a threat to your ordinary e-mail correspondence -- it also gives government bureaucrats the ability to spy on your online transactions including banking, because it has the ability to monitor all digital communications period. The bottom line is that your privacy won't be protected as long as Carnivore and Echelon is on the loose. And if they are aloud to stand our right to privacy is on the brink of extinction.
At this point, no legislation to eliminate Carnivore has been proposed. However, with the public's help they can change that.
A campaign to kill the FDIC's "Know Your Customer" bank spy scheme last year was killed before any legislation existed. The attempt used by the U.S. Government, was the Annunzio-Wylie Act, which would have forced your banker to become, an informant for the government. This is become known as the “Know Your Customer” this law would have required that a U.S. bank know both the sender and receiver of money in a foreign wire transfer transaction. The Government later incorporated it into the Patriate Act.
I hope that once Americans learn about Carnivore's and Echelon’s outrageous assault on their electronic privacy and constitutional rights, they will demand legislation to abolish them as well.
There are many reasons for maintaining financial privacy and they are not necessarily attached to criminal behavior.
It wasn’t very long ago that most people with money to hide used Switzerland or the Bahamas and felt assured their assets were safe from their advisories. Today, however, these and many other countries have signed the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLAT’s) with the U.S. and other treaties with other members of the G-8. (The Worlds most powerful banking nations). These agreements are designed as among other things for the release of financial information on individuals and their bank accounts. All that needs to be shown is to look like you are involved in organized or drug-related crime or terrorism of any kind and your bank account could be subject to the MLAT and made readily available to the United States Government. These records could then be used to try to prosecute you for alleged money laundering, and tax evasion. Then the United States Attorney General may attempt to prosecute you on the ongoing criminal activity of the RICO statutes, ether civilly or criminally as an ongoing criminal enterprise. As of this writing there are more than 200 countries around the world who, have signed. More information on MLATs can be found on the Internet and in government publications. A very interesting U.S. document to look-up is the U.S. Department of State’s International Narcotic Control Strategy Report.
The major reasons for wanting financial privacy are legitimate. Mark Souse, notes the six specific reasons for maintaining a low financial profile in his book, “The Complete Guide To Financial Privacy”
Discrimination: There are many types of discrimination including racial, religious and political. If a government body can control or simply monitor the financial activities of the group being persecuted, it becomes almost impossible to fight the discrimination, or to flee.
Excessive Government: By restricting currency movements, prohibiting ownership of currency substitutes (such as gold) and imposing confiscatory taxes, a government can control the travel, business, investment and accumulation of wealth by its people. In doing so, it can stifle opposition and prevent attempts at reform. The government may contend that privacy is just a cover for tax evasion. I do not agree and both offshore investment funds and private international banks can be quite helpful in legally minimizing your taxes.
Threats to Your Reputation: Nothing can be more damaging than questions regarding your ability to handle money, which can arise if a bad investment, past business failure or bankruptcy were public knowledge. In addition, your investments can lead to false assumptions about your motives.
Divorce, Family Disputes and Lawsuits: There is definitely a need for financial privacy here. There can be a lot of damage if your enemies, competitors, creditors or antagonistic family members know your financial affairs.
Exposure to Crime: The more that is known about you, the more likely you are to be a target for crime such as fraud, extortion, and even kidnapping.
“Legal” Fraud: If it is known that you are financially well off, you make a good target for high-pressure salespeople, promoters of shady investment deals and other scams.
So there are many legitimate reasons for wanting to maintain financial privacy. The
Government unfortunately continues to ignore these reasons and exposes the financial affairs of millions of honest citizens in an effort to catch a few drug dealers, illegal stock traders and so called organized crime figures and terrorist. The government is not alone in that a private investigator can do the same thing.
The International Intelligence Network Corp. is a company in the U.S. whose sole business is the monitoring of personal data on individuals. This company has done work for many large companies and financial institutions, police departments and state and federal taxing agencies, conduct seminars on public information and records tracking. Anyone can attend these seminars and learn how to obtain more than 50 different kinds of information on anyone, using nothing but public records.
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. The Patriot Act that threatens 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 without warrant or if your not home search your home or business in secret without telling you for weeks, months, or even indefinitely.