Ron Paul Dear Colleague on Privacy Protection Package
Ron Paul Dear Colleague on Privacy Protection Package
(J. Bradley Jansen was Ron Paul’s legislative staffer for these issues at the time)
“Many large banks already have [Know Your Customer] programs that follow the nixed proposals. Consumers’ financial transactions will still be under surveillance until the laws on the books are challenged.”
Frances B. Smith, executive director, Consumer Alert, Journal of Commerce, March 12, 1999
Dear Colleague,
Even if the formal Know Your Customer rule is withdrawn, the existing Bank Secrecy Act compliance manual of the Federal Reserve de facto requires banks to implement one
(check their “spy manual” on their web site, http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/boarddocs/SupManual/).
Only by challenging current law can we safeguard our privacy.
Come to a Congressional staff briefing this Friday, March 19, at 9:00 a.m. at 1539 LHOB.
Please RSVP by email to bradley.jansen@mail.house.gov. Space is limited.
Even if the KYC rule is withdrawn, not only would the regulators still have the authority to try to implement KYC at a later date or in another form, but they already now effectively require a KYC policy as part of the compliance of the notoriously misnamed Bank Secrecy Act.
“There is no precedent whatsoever to match what is being proposed–for a private nongovernment entity to be required to continually monitor ordinary citizens to actively enure the legality of their unregulated activities [banking transactions]…It is not unlike requiring telephone companies to identify customers and monitor their customers’ calling patterns to ensure no commission of crimes through the wires [emphasis added].”
California Bankers Association, http://www.calbankers.com/legal/kycpage.html#background
The Paul Privacy Protection Package restores our right to privacy:
HR 516, Know Your Customer Sunset Act: only bill to remove agency authority on KYC.
HR 517, FinCEN Public Accountability Act: lets consumers check their own files, challenge false information and guard against the possibility of asset forfeiture from erroneous information.
HR 518, Bank Secrecy Sunset Act: repeals existing bank spying law and devolves this power back to the states or forces a formal congressional review of the loosely-written act.
Please consider finding out more information at the briefing and protecting privacy by cosponsoring the Paul Privacy Protection Package.
Respectfully,
Ron Paul