The terrorist finance program isn’t just dead, the news is worse

• June 29, 2006

The news continues to get worse about the fall-out from the New York Times article. It now appears plausible that the US will no longer have access to SWIFT via its European partners:

Legal experts who specialize in European data protection law said Swift may have breached European rules, which forbid companies to transfer confidential personal data to another country unless that country offers adequate protection.
Kristof Van Quathem, a data protection advisor at Covington & Burling in Brussels, said the EU did not consider that the United States offered sufficiently robust protection of individual data because it does not have comprehensive laws on its books.
“The key question is where the data originated,” Van Quathem said. “If it was transferred from the EU to the U.S., then that could breach European rules. A court in Iran can’t just ask for a European company to reveal the sexual preference of a private individual, nor can a U.S. court ask for private financial information about a citizen on the grounds of national security.”
He said Swift could face fines or an order to halt the transfers if it was found guilty of breaching laws in countries where the complaints have been filed.

So what we may be facing now is an end to monitoring of these types of transactions.
What that means is that, not only can we not use this valuable tool in the tracking of terrorist networks, the terrorists may now be able to use the network with impunity, without having to worry about the US tracking their large money exchanges.
So, uh, yeah, thanks New York Times! We’re o glad we elected you to selectively decide when to abide by laws governing classified material, and when it’s OK to ignore them! You obviously have such a more profound understanding of the consequences of outing a program than, say, the people who do that sort of thing for a living.
(h/t Captain’s Quarters.)

Tags: Uncategorized

http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

Yes, it is. Please stop.

You’re asking yourself to stop? Good grief! What’s wrong with you? Just stop. You are the one in power of it.
Carrick

SFTE:

The european countries already monitor the european money transfer. If something interesting for the US will be found they will get informed.

The problem is that separating the data available to the US & the EU makes the information meaningless. It’s the pattern of millions of otherwise vanilla bank transfers combined with other intel data that generate meaningful patterns that can be exploited by intelligence organizations.
carrick

WOOF:

Stop whining. We will get the information the old fashioned way. We’ll steal it.

Well, that’s a relief.

Or would have been, had there not been a long list of terrorist attacks that could have been stopped by this sort of financial tracking.
diane

Useless drivel.

likwidshoe on June 28, 2006 at 8:43 PM

Yes, it is. Please stop.
diane

Or would have been, had there not been a long list of terrorist attacks that could have been stopped by this sort of financial tracking.

Carrick on June 28, 2006 at 5:14 PM

Really? Would you mind updating us on what the Bush Whacko administration has saved us from by snooping into our private lives?
someone_from_the_eu

I don’t know where the problem is.
The european countries already monitor the european money transfer. If something interesting for the US will be found they will get informed.

By the way a lot of people in Germany have moved their money to Austria or Switzerland because they don’t like to be watched by the ‘Big Brother’. This doesn’t mean they assemble bombs, they just want to keep their private data private (which includes the amount of money they have placed at the bank).

What would you think if Germany for example has access to the money transfer data that’s happening in the US. Would you like it? I don’t think so.

It’s the same with the data the US can currently access from the airlines. There are 30 elements of the passenger they can access when the plane leaves the airport (Credit card number, choosen food,…).
http://www.kenmccracken.blogspot.com/ Ken McCracken

So now the New York Times has created a financial hassle-free zone for the terrorists, that’s just brilliant.

What benefit did the public receive in return that made that worthwhile? Smug satisfaction that Bush got it stuck to him again, and there is nothing he can do about it?
Bat One

There are also the very real questions of capability and determination… both of which, in the case of the EU, are quite validly in doubt.
http://www.wholewheatblogger.com/ Steve

Can we label the New York Times an enemy combatant and send it to Gitmo?
Outmigrated NoDaker

Blame the Leaker.

Try the Leaker as a Traitor.
Bat One

Doc,

Which one? The current headquarters building… or tha new signature one that is about to be constructed on a piece of prime Manhattan real estate that was conveniently condemned by the city and its owners kicked out to make way for the Ol’ Grey Whore” as in Kelo v. New London?
WOOF

Stop whining. We will get the information the old fashioned way. We’ll steal it.
Total Information Awareness, Carnivore, and who knows what else.
robert108

Woof: Do you understand the meaning of the work “broadcast”?

Bat: You have become aware of the next NYT scandal a-brewin’. Good going.
robert108

That was “word”, not “work”.
http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

Really? Would you mind updating us on what the Bush Whacko administration has saved us from by snooping into our private lives?

Useless drivel.

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The terrorist finance program isn’t just dead, the news is worse

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