CFPB digs deep into American's personal financial affairs

[TigerD]

Serious allegations are being raised in the legal community that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recruited the U.S. Trustee Program to collect bankruptcy data on its behalf to aid a controversial data-mining program.

Documents obtained by the Washington Examiner describe efforts by the CFPB to collect a decade's worth of private financial data on the consumer behavior of five million American citizens without their knowledge or consent. The CFPB data-mining campaign has alarmed privacy watchdogs.

The USTP was created by Congress in 1978 to be a rigorously neutral agency within the U.S. Department of Justice. Its attorneys are supposed to be "impartial” and to serve as a “watchdog over the bankruptcy process,” according to the agency's website.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2535482

Thoughts?

 

[CSO286]

"You can trust us. We're from the government."

 

[tranquility]

I read this earlier today and didn't know what to think about it. I fear more all the medical data that will be flowing through HHS and IRS databases once Obamacare gets going and see all the metadata seized by the NSA (For terrorist purposes you understand.) being used by the DEA for drug enforcement. Government has found they can exert immense amounts of control over people by collecting immense amounts of data. No one seems to care and only those with tin foil hats talk about it any more.

I await the day the government finally tries to enforce it's draconian laws against copyright violations by using the internet data streams of everyone. Nothing is secret any more and nothing goes away. There is nothing we are going to be able to do about it other than reduce the power of government. With about 1/2 of the population wanting more government rather than less, I just don't see that happening.

I don't know how this particular data collection harms me, but I don't think I understand the significance. What do you think is going to happen, both good and bad, from it?

 

[swalsh411]

I await the day the government finally tries to enforce it's draconian laws against copyright violations by using the internet data streams of everyone.

It's not the government's job to enforce copyright law. That falls to the copyright holder. Let's say I shoot a movie and have the standard copyright language included. A year later I decide I don't give a poot who copies or distributes my movie. The government has no authority to attempt to enforce the copyright on my behalf.

 

[quincy]

Serious allegations are being raised in the legal community that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recruited the U.S. Trustee Program to collect bankruptcy data on its behalf to aid a controversial data-mining program.

Documents obtained by the Washington Examiner describe efforts by the CFPB to collect a decade's worth of private financial data on the consumer behavior of five million American citizens without their knowledge or consent. The CFPB data-mining campaign has alarmed privacy watchdogs.

The USTP was created by Congress in 1978 to be a rigorously neutral agency within the U.S. Department of Justice. Its attorneys are supposed to be "impartial” and to serve as a “watchdog over the bankruptcy process,” according to the agency's website.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2535482

Thoughts?

It appears to me to be an incredible invasion of privacy (not only of consumer data but of attorney client data).



(to swalsh: There is criminal copyright infringement. See 17 USC, Section 506. The DOJ can prosecute intentional infringers and/or those who infringe for financial gain. Penalties for first offenses are fines up to $500,000 and 5 years in jail, with subsequent offenses up to $1 million in fines and up to 10 years in jail)

 

[swalsh411]

(to swalsh: There is criminal copyright infringement. See 17 USC, Section 506. The DOJ can prosecute intentional infringers and/or those who infringe for financial gain. Penalties for first offenses are fines up to $500,000 and 5 years in jail, with subsequent offenses up to $1 million in fines and up to 10 years in jail)

Agreed. I was speaking more to what the govmint might find if they were able to scan all our hard drives. Let's just say I know a fair bit about how to get pretty much any type of content you want for free (software, music, movies, etc) and the groups involved in this trading are not doing it for profit. They do it for "scene" cred and bragging rights about who got something out first. There is an vast underground universe out there most people aren't aware of. (and was around long before the web got popular).

 

[TheGeekess]

Agreed. I was speaking more to what the govmint might find if they were able to scan all our hard drives. Let's just say I know a fair bit about how to get pretty much any type of content you want for free (software, music, movies, etc) and the groups involved in this trading are not doing it for profit. They do it for "scene" cred and bragging rights about who got something out first. There is an vast underground universe out there most people aren't aware of. (and was around long before the web got popular).

Usenet. I remember it well.

 

[tranquility]

I await the day the government finally tries to enforce it's draconian laws against copyright violations by using the internet data streams of everyone.

The world of tomorrow, today!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphbenko/2013/09/09/how-aaron-swartz-the-irresistible-force-plus-darrell-issa-and-ron-wyden-the-immovable-object-saved-the-internet-part-i/

 

[anteater]

Thoughts?

If the Washington Examiner said that the Sun rises in the East, I would want independent confirmation.

 

[TigerD]

If the Washington Examiner said that the Sun rises in the East, I would want independent confirmation.

It does. I've seen it.

DC

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force. -- Ayn Rand

 

[FarmerJ]

I keep seeing ` 1984` image of big brother in my imagination and the worse is that even at this point it seems that voters would not have the nads to make privacy and data collection issues a key issue with elections as well as many other issues that no politician would touch.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Some entrepreneur started selling T-shirts online that read "NSA - The only government agency that listens".

NSA contacted the website allgeing trademark infringement and they dropped his products. He's since sold a load elsewhere.

 

[quincy]

Some entrepreneur started selling T-shirts online that read "NSA - The only government agency that listens".

NSA contacted the website allgeing trademark infringement and they dropped his products. He's since sold a load elsewhere.

That tee shirt is great.

The creator could fight the infringement claim, if he had the desire, a lot of money or an organization like the ACLU assisting, and there is a good chance he would win his suit and the right to continue selling the shirts without interference.

The government has not been real successful in stopping trademark uses when the trademarks are used to espouse political views (see the "Smokey the Bear" trademark actions) or when used as parody.

 

[tranquility]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/business/2013/08/nsa-doesnt-mind-parody-t-shirts-after-all/68933/
The NSA said:

The NSA seal is protected by Public Law 86-36, which states that it is not permitted for “…any person to use the initials ‘NSA,’ the words ‘National Security Agency’ and the NSA seal without first acquiring written permission from the Director of NSA.”

Shall we let them know this?
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/10637251584572618173