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Scott in Florida wrote:[color=blue]
> I'd like to hear your thoughts on your wonderful newspaper.
>
> I guess it is ok to leak secrets to our enemies...right?[/color]

The following is some stuff that was written in 2002 by folks critical
of the Patriot Act. I'll admit to not having read every word in the
recent NY Times article but other than citing the name of the banking
program and the fact that it is international in scale, is there any
more information in the article than in this 2002 piece?


"Section 312: Another detailed provision imposing upon banks and
domestic financial entities new "minimal" and "enhanced" due diligence
requirements on certain accounts, as a way of revealing possible use of
accounts for terrorist financing (exhaustive Treasury regulations and
other directives already have been issued on the requirements of
Sections 311 and 312).

Section 319: Sets a 120-hour deadline for financial institutions to
respond to certain information requests by federal investigators
involving wide range of accounts.

Section 316 and 319: Creates new forfeiture provisions for those
charged or convicted of certain terrorist crimes especially including
money laundering, setting forfeiture authorities virtually unheard of
in federal law to this point.

Section 319: Permits access by federal investigators of records of
certain "correspondent" accounts with foreign banks.

Section 326: Establishes new or expanded requirements to track
identities of persons opening new bank accounts.

Section 326: Authorizes a study to track aliens or foreign nationals by
a system similar to social security numbers.

Section 358: Allows government investigator access to consumer records,
which does not require a court order and is to be provided in secret
and without civil liability.

Section 361: Establishes or expands the "FinCEN" office in the Treasury
Department, accompanied by a long list of duties for this office and
substantial funding.

The Treasury Department has issued tremendously detailed regulations
for Title III's new requirements for banks and other financial
institutions. Title III has effectively rewritten many banking laws and
introduced new requirements to the point that domestic bank are virtual
partners with the federal government in investigating financial aspects
of terrorism. Spurred by PATRIOT Act authority to investigate any forms
of money transfer that may be linked to terrorism, new arrests and
detentions have been made by federal agents of principals of certain
targeted charitable groups which send money abroad, especially to the
Middle East, shutting these organizations down under the guise of
investigating terrorism. "