[this article includes a fairly detailed description of current monitoring and surveillance practices] http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18821.html Know Your (Customer) Rights by Declan McCullagh 3:00 a.m. 30.Mar.99.PST When federal regulators said last week they were abandoning a controversial plan to expand bank surveillance of customers, privacy advocates were hopping mad. The not-so-obvious reason? Banks already are required to monitor customers for "suspicious" deposits and withdrawals. And last week's decision to nix the formal "Know Your Customer" proposal didn't change that a bit. Over 88 percent of US banks had Know Your Customer policies in place as of January 1999, according to an American Bankers Association survey. To privacy advocates, it's a stark example of government meddling in personal lives. Groups as far apart on the political spectrum as the ACLU and the Libertarian Party have reacted in unison, launching campaigns that urge Americans to investigate their bank's current practices and, if necessary, to complain. The ACLU's online campaign, called "Know Your Banker," is scheduled to begin Tuesday. [...remainder snipped...] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe: send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this text: subscribe politech More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
