------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 13:32:57 -0400 (EDT) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Release: Global KYC From: Libertarian Party Announcements <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] =============================== NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY 2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100 Washington DC 20037 World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org =============================== For release: August 23, 2000 =============================== For additional information: George Getz, Press Secretary Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] =============================== It's back! Politicians try to pass sneaky spy-on-your-bank-account law WASHINGTON, DC -- Congress is quietly trying to resurrect the so-called "Know Your Customer" rule, the Libertarian Party is warning, which is a slap in the face to hundreds of thousands of Americans who rose up to defeat the bank monitoring regulation last year. "Shame on these politicians. They don't know how to take 'No Bank Spying' for an answer," said Steve Dasbach, national director of the Libertarian Party. "Instead of apologizing for last year's attack on your privacy, they're covertly trying to do the same thing again." The original Know Your Customer regulation was withdrawn by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in March 1999, after Americans flooded the FDIC with more than 300,000 anti-Know Your Customer e-mails and letters. The regulation was also opposed by pro-privacy groups and bankers. "Know Your Customer would have required banks and other financial institutions to monitor every American's bank account," said Dasbach. "Banks would have been required to develop customer profiles and report any 'unusual activity' such as large cash deposits or withdrawals to the government -- in effect turning every bank teller into an informer and everyone with a bank account into a criminal suspect." Now Congress has created Know Your Customer, The Sequel: The International Counter-Money Laundering and Foreign Anticorruption Act of 2000 (HR 3886). The bill, sponsored by Rep. James Leach (R-IA), chairman of the House Banking Committee, passed that panel on June 8 and is headed for a full House vote in September. "Don't let the word 'international' in the bill's title fool you," said Dasbach. "Politicians want you to believe that your privacy won't be threatened as long as you use a U.S. bank -- but that's not true." In fact, he said, one section of the bill gives Treasury bureaucrats the specific power to impose Know Your Customer-style regulations on U.S. banks at will. "The government's excuse is that anyone who uses a U.S. bank has the potential to conduct an international transaction, so U.S. banks can be monitored as well," said Dasbach. HR 3886 says the Treasury secretary "shall issue guidance to financial institutions operating in the United States on appropriate practices and procedures to reduce the risk that such institutions may become depositories for, or transmitters of, the proceeds of corruption by or on behalf of senior foreign officials and their close associates." Such "guidance" means banks would have to "survey everybody and then if you look like you're out of line, you better explain yourself," according to Banking Committee member Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), a leading opponent to the bill. "That provision makes HR 3886 another 'prove you're not a criminal' law that could force innocent Americans to explain where they got their money and how they plan to spend it," said Dasbach. Another thing that should be familiar, said Dasbach, is that HR 3886 uses the actions of theoretical criminals as an excuse to monitor innocent Americans. "Remember the government's claim that Know Your Customer was an attempt to combat drug dealers and money launderers?" asked Dasbach. "In HR 3886, the excuse for spying on your bank account is to curb corrupt foreign officials and money laundering. "Politicians are making the preposterous claim that you should surrender your privacy rights because of theoretical crimes committed by dictators in countries most of us can't even locate on a map." Besides, said Dasbach, how can the U.S. government possibly monitor corrupt foreign officials when it can't even keep up with corrupt American politicians and bureaucrats? "After all, the federal bureaucrats who created Know Your Customer are still at large," he noted. "And harassing every American with a bank account should be a crime -- regardless of what the government decides to call it." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Libertarian Party http://www.lp.org/ 2600 Virginia Ave. NW, Suite 100 voice: 202-333-0008 Washington DC 20037 fax: 202-333-0072 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- For subscription changes, please use the WWW form at: http://www.lp.org/action/email.html Alternatively, you may also send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with just the word "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line. ------- End of forwarded message ------- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! 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