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Ghostalmedia @lemmy.world

1w ago

How a $200 check can put you on a government watch list

www.latimes.com

Contributor: How a $200 check can put you on a government watch list

31 comments

Odds are you're on a watchlist for using Lemmy
- Definitely if you’re on a .ml address.
- randomized MACs on public WiFi, burner email addresses and Tor are the new fortress phones.
  "fortress phone". I'm old. :(
- Use Tor.
  
  Can't Tor usage be identified? The encryption pattern, connection to known entry points...?
  My thread model doesn't need For, but I'm not sure if it's enough against being singled out by a state actor.
  I'm even wondering if to attempt privacy isn't going to be an issue if things get worse.

More than 1 million Californians and Texans are about to face a new level of financial surveillance from the federal government. Although cash transactions over $10,000 have long been reported under current law, now many transactions of as little as $200 will have to be reported in 30 ZIP Codes along the border with Mexico. Financial surveillance in the United States has needed reform, but this policy marks little more than another intrusion into the lives of Americans.

THIS is the Small Government I want! Government SO SMALL that you have to Tell Them EVERY PENNY you Spend!

And in addition to friend and family getting on watchlists, this also means that a LOT of businesses are going to start keeping a lot of cash around if they want to keep prices down.

$200 from fam... straight to El Salvador
$2billion from Saudi Prince...?

They still have cheques over there? Last time I saw one here was 15 years ago.
- They say "checks" but it is realistically going to mean any transaction over $200
- Many US banking systems are surprisingly old fashioned compared to other countries.
- I last remember seeing my mom write one in the mid 80s. Personally I've never used one, and I'm pushing 50.
  
  Mid-40s and wrote several. Many places I lived only accepted rent by check or money order.
  
  Hmm. I'm 58 and I've written many.
  I guess it just depends on what people like.
- Do you put a $200 grocery bill/ restaurant tab on your bank card? Congratulations, Uncle Sam is now demanding that your bank report that spending to them.
- Its just a SEPA transfer equivalent on paper.
- I still write a cheque to pay the milkman. Remember them too?

Jesus, we should be doubling the $10k threshold to keep up with inflation, not decreasing it

I've gone back to spending cash only. I keep a credit card for emergencies though.
- This. But monero for online transactions

If everyone is on a watchlist, nobody is
- gotta disagree. with current electronic processing, storage and forthcoming AI analysis, that axiom no longer applies - everyone is on a watch list.
- I don't think that phrase really works universally. The original line from the Incredibles makes sense because "super" is a relative term. If we're all on a watchlist that doesn't mean we're not actually being watched or not in danger, it just means we stopped distinguishing levels of suspicion or "saving resources" for the most dangerous people. Think they don't have the resources to watch everyone? That's what AI is for.
- Unfortunately, that’s not true.
  Also unfortunately, a LOT of people are treated as if they’re on a watchlist, even when they aren’t.
  If everyone is on a watchlist, that means everyone is being watched so they can be punished if they do anything that could even be remotely considered outside the law.
  Pulled over for speeding and you’re on a watchlist? Off to interrogation for you.
  
  The point is that's not a watchlist, that's just a panopticon authoritarian state. Big Brother is always watching.

31 comments