more on Secret U.S. Program Tracks Global Bank Transfers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Peter Wayner <pcw () flyzone com>
Date: June 23, 2006 1:48:23 PM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>, h_bray () globe com
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Secret U.S. Program Tracks Global Bank  
Transfers


There's no secret intelligence program being exposed here for the  
first time.  Let's look at what the White House releases on its own  
website:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/treasury.html

According to this budget for 2007, the administration:

* "is making efforts to improve the efficiency of its collection,  
retrieval, and sharing of information collected under the Bank  
Secrecy Act..."
* "requires financial institutions to report on financial  
transactions such as suspicious activities that may be indicative of  
financial crimes..."
* "gathers, analyzes, and produces financial intelligence about these  
threats..."

Sounds like they're looking at transactions to me.

The real news in the story is in the details of the implementation  
and the structure of the oversight. The judicial branch is out of the  
loop, something that has deep constitutional implications given the  
4th amendment. And the system is also being designed to suck in as  
much data as possible, something that leads to dangerous  
concentrations of data.

The real story is not about the secrecy, it's about the  
implementation. Does it have adequate oversight? Can it defend  
against spies like Aldrich Ames? Is it overly complex and thus overly  
expensive?

-Peter


On Jun 23, 2006, at 1:18 PM, David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: h_bray () globe com
> Date: June 23, 2006 11:33:37 AM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
> Subject: Re: [IP] Secret U.S. Program Tracks Global Bank Transfers
>
> Once again, a secret intelligence program during wartime has been  
> exposed.
>
> Do these guys actually want us to win?



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