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EU May Allow US To Keep Snooping On European Bank Data
zaphod2 alerts us to a storm brewing in Europe over access by US intelligence agencies to EU banking data. There is considerable opposition in Europe to extending this access. The submitter adds, "I wonder how long it takes until gambling, online games, or non-RIAA-approved music shops are considered supporters of terrorism." "US anti-terror officials want to be able to continue examining Europeans' financial transactions, and it appears likely that the European Union is going to comply. ... The US has been examining transactions handled by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Transactions (SWIFT) since the 9/11 attacks... However, SWIFT, which is located in Belgium, is planning to move its servers and database — which is currently located in the US — to Europe. With data privacy laws far stricter in Europe, the US would then need permission from the EU before it could gain access to this sensitive information."
because it is absolutely necessary in order to fight the terrorists!! If we don't police the world then WHO WILL!?
All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be. -PF
I think terrorism has fully achieved its objective. Majority of citizens in almost every country now face innumerable problems due to the 'anti terrorist' agenda of their governments. How worse can it be ? Success beyond Osama's wildest dreams !
... but those other people? We'll spy on them like crazy to protect your rights. Terrorists and all that, you know? Oh, we may or may not be letting them spy on you. And don't ask if we'll be swapping notes with them behind closed doors. Only terrorist lovers ask questions like that.
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
There is already a police in EU countries, you know. Unfortunately direct access to EU financial data can be used for industry espionage by US companies. And it is far more likely than next terrorists attacks in US.
The sad thing is, things that invade our privacy and violate our basic rights are passed in a non-democratic way. The part of the EU government that is actually elected by the people, has absolutely no say in these matters. They are outraged but powerless.
The EU is a "great" tool for oppression and more powerful governments. Basically everything that no national government would be able to put into a law, can be done in the EU. There is no such a thing as this annoying democratic process.
You'd be thinking of this
There is no "we". The violence of the U.S. government has not benefited U.S. citizens. If you got in the way of the controlling groups, they would kill you, delt0r, and your family.
The "anti-terror" is only a smokescreen. The U.S. government spends more money on surveillance and war than any country in the history of the world. That taxpayer money partly helps some people profit, for example: House of Bush, House of Saud, and hurts U.S. taxpayers.
The U.S. government has invaded or bombed 25 countries since the 2nd world war. Most or all of the interference was for profit. Quote: '... although nearly all the post-World War II interventions were carried out in the name of "freedom" and "democracy," nearly all of them in fact defended dictatorships controlled by pro-U.S. elites' The dictators pay the corrupters, of course.
U.S. citizens don't want to believe that their government is as corrupt as it is, even though the recent financial corruption has made many of them poor.
They're letting another country snoop on their citizen's financial transactions. Sounds like they're being subordinated to me.
No, the RIAA doesn't exist in Europe... (Guess what the last A in RIAA means) However, pretty much every Nation has its own equivalent institution. I don't know them all, but in Belgium it's SABAM, in France it's SACEM. I'm sure there are others.
Yup - most offshore jurisdictions currently shun US citizens due to their rulers tendency to demand full access, and control of their subjects assets. Offshore jurisdictions only deal with customers from authoritarian regimes if they happen to be relatively powerless on the world stage.
I regard the latest developments as merely a marketing push by the US of their offshore jurisdiction - Delaware - and a way to use political might in order to squash competition within the finance segment.
Delaware is one of the very few jurisdictions that are still able to offer completely anonymous banking/corporate services (through use of bearer shares), a service that cannot be obtained in Switzerland, Luxembourg or any of the offshore jurisdictions in Europe.
Macao also offers true anonymous banking and as they are now a part of China (who also wants to compete in the offshore segment and therefore refuses to allow the G20 to put Macao on any of its grey or black lists). Other jurisdictions that can be interesting for US tax subjects are Singapore, Dubai, Panama, the Seychelles, Mauritius and a bunch of other ones.
I personally think that we are beginning to see a "new financial Berlin wall" that is starting to separate the former powerhouses of the "old" economies from that of the "new" economies (BRIC and Africa ).
The behaviour displayed by the US in this matter has caused me and many of my colleagues to abandon any forms of business that in any way touch US based companies or individuals.
- As we're basically forced to choose between investments into EU/US (who are currently seeing their economies shrink) and the rest of the world (where we see strong economic growth) - we have basically chosen to abandon the US and US persons in our business dealings (We're in the business of making money - not propping up irresponsible governments).
Posting this anonymously due to the political sensitivity of these issues... I have very little faith in the rule of law once large sums of money are involved.
You know, the whole point behind those attacks was not to destroy the West, or wipe us off the map, or any of that rubbish.
The main demands the Al Quaida originally made were that US forces withdraw from Saudi Arabia, and for Palestine to be recognised and given equal support to Israel. That was before every fundamentalist nutjob in Islam was invoking the name Al Quaida though ( PDF here, for reference).
I'm sorry to say, no matter what the media would have you believe, these guys aren't SPECTRE. They just want to be left alone. Throw rocks at a wasps' nest, and what do you expect to happen?
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