Americans should be deeply concerned that our government and financial institutions are not only spying on us but also potentially abusing their power to target Americans for their political views.
For many Americans, our banks know more about our lives than our own mothers. Based on our financial records, they can accurately guess a customer’s religious beliefs, political leanings, and more. Yet this extensive knowledge has been used to spy on us on behalf of the federal government, a revelation that was brought to light by a bombshell report released by the House Judiciary Committee (HJC) and accompanied by a video posted by the subcommittee.
The HJC report is titled “Financial Surveillance in the United States: How The Federal Government Weaponized The Bank Secrecy Act To Spy On Americans.” The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), referred to in the report title, is an antiquated law enacted in 1970 to combat criminal money laundering schemes. The BSA requires a financial institution to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) on its customer if it identifies “a suspicious transaction relevant to a possible violation of law or regulation” or file Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) if a customer “conducts a transaction over $10,000 or multiple transactions that amount to over $10,000 in a single day.”
However, the HJC’s investigation revealed that a law that was meant to catch criminals had been weaponized by the federal government to surveil Americans without a warrant.
The HJC report uncovered three main issues. First is how financial institutions’ over-reporting has affected millions of law-abiding Americans. Since there is a significant monetary penalty for failing to file, the law incentivizes financial institutions to over-file SARs in a desire for self-preservation even when a customer’s activity could be completely legal. […]
— Read More: thefederalist.com
