Guess which law I actually like

[rowyn]

Toddler Bank is having its employees go through online training courses on security and compliance regulations. This is an annual process for banks, because there's so much turnover both in employees and in regulations that we're supposed to follow.

A couple of days ago, I went through a course on the Bank Secrecy Act and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. It was subtitled "Fighting Crime and Terror". It should have been further subtitled "By Tracking Every Financial Move Your Customers Make and Reporting Them to Big Brother". I got an 80% on it, which is just barely a passing grade.

Today, I finished the course on the Privacy Act. I got a 100% on that one.

Next up: The Patriot Act.

...

I'll probably have to sit through this one twice to pass it.

*sigh*

Comments

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Depends on whether they're testing how much you like the laws, or whether you just understand tem, maybe! If they tested for the former, you'd never pass, eh? ('gryn)

[jim-lane.livejournal.com]

Ideally, the IRS would track every dime you make and spend, to be sure you pay federal taxes on the money every time it changes hands. Ideally, if EVERY transaction had to be made electronically, the IRS could make sure that, if a friend paid you $50 one weekend to help him
lay block (for ex:), "Big Brother" would get a bite out of it---even though you don't make your living as a mason. ALL transactions would leave an electronic trail, making EVERYTHING you did traceable.

The banking snooping is just the beginning...

BTW, in the car biz, if you buy a car and stroke a check for more than $10K, there's a federal form that the dealer has to fill out and send it. The customer's not doing anything illegal, but the feds want
to know about it nevertheless...

[prester-scott.livejournal.com]

Ideally, the US Government would just, like, have all the money in the world. Everyone would work, and in exchange then they'd dole out food and other things to everyone. Or maybe just to people they liked.

[jamesb]

Have you ever encountered any of the "Money-Sniffing Dogs" that the US Customs and Treasury people use to detect airline passengers taking undeclared US Currency out of the country?

They're the most active in airports with flights departing the USA for the Caribbean or Central and South America, especially at times when there are off-shore investment seminars running in those places.

Even when the dogs aren't there or don't react, they still pull people out of the boarding line if they match an appearance profile. I got pulled from a boarding line in Dallas when I was about to board a flight to Leon MX, but they wasted their time on me.

[the-vulture.livejournal.com]

I wonder how long before this kinda crap moves north...

[octantis.livejournal.com]

So, in the Fighting Crime and Terror class, do they suggest you use flash bombs or batarangs for rampaging robots? Is the procedure different for irradiated mutants? What kind of loan rates do you offer psychic savants?

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

Heh. At the librarian's conference I attended, there was a session on the Patriot Act and how libraries fit into the grand scheme of that. There was also some discussion of what librarians can do to protect themselves and their records when the police or the FBI come calling.

The depressing part? There really isn't much action one can take, especially if they bring a warrant. One can (and should) ask to contact the college's or university's counsel right away but if they say no, you're S.O.L.

Isn't that just lovely? :-P