Posted on 03/27/2007 12:40:14 AM PDT by Types_with_Fist
Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.
The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.
"The way in which the list is being used goes far beyond contexts in which it has a link to national security," said Shirin Sinnar, the report's author. "The government is effectively conscripting private businesses into the war on terrorism but doing so without making sure that businesses don't trample on individual rights."
(Excerpt) Read more at kerryfoxlive.com ...
Couldn't a Terrorist front group{company) attain the list and check to see if their operatives were on it?
So, what's the problem? Sounds good to me. If your intent is to undermine the war on terror, I can see there might be a problem. Other wise let's get er done.
Bump
What is the problem??
I have a fairly common name, and found out last week when I was flying to Las Vegas that my name is on the no Fly list. fortunately, my birthday is different, so Southwast Airlines and TSA let me go.... However.... do YOU have any confidence that a car dealer will go so far AS CHECK A B-DATE... OR A LANDLOARD WITH 4 APPLICANT WILL GO BEYOND THE NAME?
Well, first of all we don't know if those on the list are all terrorists, it's the "watch list" not the "arrest list". Pepole get on the list for reasons unknown.
Some support that because it's "just a watch list", meaning you will get extra scrutiny but you won't be denied anything simply for being on the list. That way we are watching a subset of people who we think might be a problem, without trampling on individual rights.
But if we are going to let business use the list to deny people service, now it IS a threat to individual liberties. Government making a list of citizens that it expect or could reasonably anticipate being used to black-ball those citizens is a tremendous abuse of power.
The backlash against the Patriot act from these types of abuses will be severe, and small-government conservatives will lead the charge if the government doesn't get this under control now.
And then there's this: "sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list." In case you think it's just those who are rightly listed on the list, if your name is John Smith you might as well just hang yourself.
Does the list include all members of the ACLU?
Is the list public?
Hey "Shirin", maybe you should cry foul and alert the media...oh wait, you already did.
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