The power of THE PEOPLE via the net! -----Original Message----- From: List Manager <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sunday, 4 April 1999 10:44 AM Subject: "Know Your Customer" Update #3 >PRIVACY NEWS UPDATE #3 >-------------------------------- >THANK YOU AGAIN! >for supporting our ongoing effort >to stop "Know Your Customer". >-------------------------------- >You are receiving this update because you registered at the >DefendYourPrivacy.com web site. We strive to respect your time, >and are planning no more than one brief update per week. However, >if you do not want to receive further updates, please use the >unsubscribe directions at the end of this message. >-------------------------------- > >IN THIS UPDATE: > >1) FDIC & other agencies withdraw Know Your Customer rule -- > but KYC lives on in the Bank Secrecy Act >2) Assistant Director of Federal Reserve Board says KYC is NOT dead >3) Flood of e-mail credited with stopping Know Your Customer >4) New online petition being launched to repeal existing > Know Your Customer requirements >5) Quote of the week > >-------------------------------- > >Here's what's going on in the fight against "Know Your Customer" >regulations: > >1) FDIC & other agencies withdraw Know Your Customer rule -- > but KYC lives on in the Bank Secrecy Act > >As anticipated, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Office of >the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, and the >Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve (the "Agencies") officially voted >on March 23, 1999 to withdraw their proposed Know Your Customer rule. This >means that, thanks to your help, we have won Round One of the fight. > >However, in a statement released after the meeting, the Agencies reaffirmed >their "...long-standing support for the anti-money laudering provisions of >the Bank Secrecy Act." > >As it turns out, the Bank Secrecy Act compliance manual of the Federal >Reserve still requires banks to implement a Know Your Customer program, >even though the new KYC regulation has been withdrawn. (Check out the "spy >manual" on their web site, http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/boarddocs/SupManual/) > >According to a recent survey by the American Bankers Association, over 88 >percent of US banks already have Know Your Customer policies in place. In >early March, the ABA called on regulators to not only withdraw the proposed >Know Your Customer rule, but to dismantle the existing requirements of the >Bank Secrecy Act as well. > >Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) has introduced HR 518, The Bank Secrecy Sunset Act, >which would repeal the existing Bank Secrecy Act reporting requirements >that led to Know Your Customer. (See #4 below.) > >2) Assistant Director of Federal Reserve Board says > Know Your Customer is NOT dead. > >A banker who attended the Mid Atlantic Compliance Conference March 18-19 >reported the following comments by Richard Small, Assistant Director of the >Federal Reserve System, at a session on KYC: > > "Is Know Your Customer dead? No, I don't think it is dead. Do I > think there will be a regulation? No. I would like to develop > some broad based guidance [but] no one is going to let me talk > about it for six months." > >Small went on to say that they would have to repackage it differently, such >as "Enhanced guidance for reporting suspicious activity." He said they'll >have to be careful how they re-package it, saying, "It's a marketing >issue." He indicated that any future proposal would not be called "Know >Your Customer" and would not use the phrase "customer profiling." > >3) Flood of e-mail credited with stopping Know Your Customer > >"The FDIC's chairman, Donna Tanoue, said the huge volume of e-mail drove >the decision to withdraw the [KYC] proposal," reported Rebecca Fairley >Raney of the New York Times in a March 24, 1999 story (please see >http://DefendYourPrivacy.com/nyt_2.htm). This suggests that the influence >of e-mail on public policy decisions is growing. Some other quotes from >the article: > >"It's important to note that a number of these e-mails were customized." >Tanoue said. "They came from the heart." > >"Typically the comments we hear are packaged in Washington -- and these >[e-mail comments] came from all over America," said Steve Katsanos, a >spokesman for the FDIC. "We think it's pretty neat," he said of the >Internet-based interaction. "You might well count on this being a >standard procedure." > >"The e-mail and the traffic to the FDIC's Web site was driven through media >reports on the issue in traditional media and through an online advocacy >campaign [http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com] sponsored by the Libertarian >Party." > >"Ultimately ... people used the party's advocacy site to send 171,000 >comments to the FDIC -- about 83% of the e-mail that was sent." > >The success of this cyber-campaign has also been noted in articles and >editorials in other major print publications such as The Washington >Post, The Chicago Sun-Times, the Kansas City Star and The Arizona Republic >as well as in leading online publications such as WorldNetDaily.com, >Wired.com and CBS.MarketWatch.com. Visit the Media Coverage page at >http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com for links to these and other articles >about the campaign and Know Your Customer. > >4) New online petition being launched to repeal existing > Know Your Customer requirements > >DefendYourPrivacy.com is preparing to launch a new online petition to >repeal existing Know Your Customer requirements. The petition will be >directed to individual members of Congress and will ask them to co-sponsor >the Know Your Customer Sunset Act (HR 516) and the Bank Secrecy Sunset Act >(HR 518). HR 516 already has over 50 co-sponsors. > >Passage of these bills would repeal all existing Know Your Customer >reporting requirements, and prevent similar regulations from being imposed >in the future. For more information on both bills, check out our new >"Legislation" page at http://www.DefendYourPrivacy.com. > >An announcement and pass-along message for friends and family will be sent >out as soon as the petition page is up and running, which will probably >be in about a week. > >5) Quote of the week - Editorial, Indianapolis Star > >"That such a rule [KYC] would even have been proposed should be of great >concern to every freedom-loving American. > >"These are the tactics employed in socialist countries such as China and >the old Soviet Union where the denial of personal privacy, individual >property and freedom of speech are fundamental tools for the economic and >political control of large captive populations. > >"Fortunately, many Americans were outraged at this proposal. Much of the >credit must go the the Libertarians. Of some 253,000 e-mail messages, >letters, and faxes to the FDIC, more than 170,000 were ... generated by the >party's DefendYourPrivacy.com Web site." > >-------------------------------- > >DefendYourPrivacy.com is provided as a public service by the >Libertarian Party. > >To request information about the Libertarian Party, please visit > http://www.lp.org/lp-membership-iform.html? >To support this website financially, please visit > http://www.lp.org/lp-kyc-contrib.html >To join the Libertarian Party please visit > http://www.lp.org/lp-membership.html > >-------------------------------- > >TO UNSUBSCRIBE, >simply hit REPLY and put the word > > unsubscribe > >in the SUBJECT header. > >IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION >that requires an answer, YOU MUST >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Replies to the List Manager will be deleted >from our mailing list. > >-------------------------------- > > > >
