Ron Paul Dear Colleague letter on FinCEN Public Accountability Act
Ron Paul Dear Colleague letter on FinCEN Public Accountability Act
(J. Bradley Jansen was the legislative staffer for Dr. Paul for these issues at this time)
“Privacy is a basic American value – in the Information Age, and in every age. And it must be protected. We need an electronic bill of rights for this electronic age. You should have the right to choose whether your personal information is disclosed; you should have the right to know how, when, and how much of that information is being used; and you should have the right to see it yourself, to know if it’s accurate.”
Vice President Al Gore, 1998
Dear Colleague,
Privacy is an issue of great and increasing concern–justifiably, in my opinion. With the development of new technologies and more disclosure required by governments, financial institutions and other businesses are struggling to maintain the desired balance between privacy and necessary monitoring.
Vice President Al Gore last year set a high standard in this debate. We should follow his advice and the government should set an example by passing HR 517, the FinCEN Public Accountability Act, which allows consumers to view their Financial Crime Enforcement Network file maintained on them by Treasury.
Consumers can always choose to protect their privacy in the private sector and “opt out” by voting with their feet and doing business with a company that follows privacy policies that they choose. The government does not afford them the same possibility. The least we can do is heed the vice president’s advice and give consumers basic privacy rights by passing HR 517.
To cosponsor, please contact Bradley Jansen at 5-2831.
Respectfully,
Ron Paul