by Tom Parker, Reclaim The Net:
New documents pull back the curtain on the federal government’s shocking push for mass financial surveillance that reportedly targeted millions of Americans.
In January, the House Judiciary Committee sounded the alarm about the federal government asking banks to surveil transactions related to certain keywords, such as “MAGA” and “Trump,” as part of investigations into January 6, 2021 at the Capitol. But new documents obtained by the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government have revealed that the surveillance that was initially identified by the House Judiciary Committee in January was much broader than these early reports suggested.
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The House Judiciary Committee’s initial letter about this financial surveillance revealed that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) sent several financial institutions lists of terms that it deemed to be indicators of potential violent extremism and suggested that banks use these search terms to flag suspect transactions. These lists included terms such as MAGA and Trump and also recommended searching for more generic terms, such as terms related to purchases of transportation and terms related to purchases of books (including religious texts) and other media that FinCEN deemed to be “extremist.”
These new documents, which were shared in a report titled “Financial Surveillance in the United States: How Federal Law Enforcement Commandeered Financial Institutions to Spy on Americans,” show that the list of terms FinCEN asked banks and financial institutions to flag was much wider.
In one document, FinCEN brands lawful activities, such as “frequent ATM withdrawals and wire transfers with no apparent economic or business purpose” and “purchases that appear excessive or unusual for hobbyist or other legitimate use,” as potential indicators of violent extremism.
In another document, FinCEN brands purchases of privacy-preserving tools, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), “counter-surveillance equipment,” or “secure communications equipment,” as potential “red flags” for “active shooter detection.”
And in another document, FinCEN describes purchases of gift cards, “transfers to GiveSendGo or other crowdsourcing sites,” and “use of debit cards for Crypto” between November 3, 2020 and January 12, 2021, as “subjects of interest” for January 6 investigations.
