Personal privacy while transferring money is a key aspect of the international financial system, but in spite of the fact that this is the case the US government might have been infringing on this privacy in that past. What makes things worse is that the government didn’t even have a warrant for this type of surveillance, which suggests that their intentions were more nefarious than might have been the case otherwise.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a senator by the name of Ron Wynde is behind the recent expose. It turns out that the US government has been using a surveillance mechanism that was put in place by the Arizona’s attorney general back in 2014.
Essentially, all money transfers that were over $500 were stored in a secure database owned by the Transaction Record Analysis Center. Thes transfers were international in nature, made through services like MoneyGram, Western Union as well as Viamericas.
It should be mentioned that transfers between America and around 23 other regions including Mexico were all included on the database.
What makes this truly concerning is that anyone with a government email address can access the data if they so choose. Although there haven’t been any real privacy violations as of yet, the easy access to such personal data is a definite red flag.
Things get even worse when you realize that the people that would be included in this database will likely be immigrants, low income groups and other individuals who already lack a lot of privacy protections with all things having been considered and taken into account.
The ACLU has gone so far as to call this a surveillance system, calling on the government to shut it down. It is currently unclear if any action will be taking regarding this, but failing to do anything would be rather unconscionable. People deserve to be able to transfer money without getting spied on, and the government should have to go through the proper channels if they want to keep tabs.
Read next: TikTok Expands Its State-Controlled Media Label To 40 Global Markets So Users Stay Vigilant
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a senator by the name of Ron Wynde is behind the recent expose. It turns out that the US government has been using a surveillance mechanism that was put in place by the Arizona’s attorney general back in 2014.
Essentially, all money transfers that were over $500 were stored in a secure database owned by the Transaction Record Analysis Center. Thes transfers were international in nature, made through services like MoneyGram, Western Union as well as Viamericas.
It should be mentioned that transfers between America and around 23 other regions including Mexico were all included on the database.
What makes this truly concerning is that anyone with a government email address can access the data if they so choose. Although there haven’t been any real privacy violations as of yet, the easy access to such personal data is a definite red flag.
Things get even worse when you realize that the people that would be included in this database will likely be immigrants, low income groups and other individuals who already lack a lot of privacy protections with all things having been considered and taken into account.
The ACLU has gone so far as to call this a surveillance system, calling on the government to shut it down. It is currently unclear if any action will be taking regarding this, but failing to do anything would be rather unconscionable. People deserve to be able to transfer money without getting spied on, and the government should have to go through the proper channels if they want to keep tabs.
Read next: TikTok Expands Its State-Controlled Media Label To 40 Global Markets So Users Stay Vigilant
