and that's not even the worst effect. i have worked on implementations of AML/KYC/CTF at many financial institutions, but last year i saw them used to block banking access to citizens protesting the Canadian government. these procedures were not built for blocking civil dissent.
but now any citizen is just one step away to having a "terrorist" label attached, and banned from accessing their accounts.
ACLU: "Hastily passed 45 days after 9/11 in the name of national security, the Patriot Act was the first of many changes to surveillance laws that made it easier for the government to spy on ordinary Americans by expanding the authority to monitor phone and email communications, collect bank and credit reporting records, and track the activity of innocent Americans on the Internet. While most Americans think it was created to catch terrorists, the Patriot Act actually turns regular citizens into suspects."
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are over. Osama bin Laden is dead.
These laws were supposed to stop terrorist funding. They are no longer useful, and should be repealed.
What bothers me is not that they haven't been repealed, but that we aren't even talking about it.
Where's the Republican faction loudly demanding we remove these burdensome government restrictions on financial freedom and let laissez faire capitalism create a rising tide that lifts all boats [1]?
Where's the Democrat faction loudly pointing out these laws are used to make the banking system unusable by poor / homeless / immigrants / racial minorities [2]?
I'm not surprised that these factions don't have the votes for reform. Rather, I'm very surprised that they don't even seem to exist. Why not?
[1] I'm just saying this is the sort of point plenty of Republicans like to raise. Whether rightly or wrongly isn't a debate I want to get into here, as it's an overly partisan can of worms that's not necessary for my point.
[2] I'm just saying this is the sort of point plenty of Democrats like to raise. Whether rightly or wrongly isn't a debate I want to get into here, as it's an overly partisan can of worms that's not necessary for my point.
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[ 5.1 ms ] story [ 10.3 ms ] threadhttps://www.aclu.org/issues/national-security/privacy-and-su...
These laws were supposed to stop terrorist funding. They are no longer useful, and should be repealed.
What bothers me is not that they haven't been repealed, but that we aren't even talking about it.
Where's the Republican faction loudly demanding we remove these burdensome government restrictions on financial freedom and let laissez faire capitalism create a rising tide that lifts all boats [1]?
Where's the Democrat faction loudly pointing out these laws are used to make the banking system unusable by poor / homeless / immigrants / racial minorities [2]?
I'm not surprised that these factions don't have the votes for reform. Rather, I'm very surprised that they don't even seem to exist. Why not?
[1] I'm just saying this is the sort of point plenty of Republicans like to raise. Whether rightly or wrongly isn't a debate I want to get into here, as it's an overly partisan can of worms that's not necessary for my point.
[2] I'm just saying this is the sort of point plenty of Democrats like to raise. Whether rightly or wrongly isn't a debate I want to get into here, as it's an overly partisan can of worms that's not necessary for my point.