Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 14:32:17 -0500
To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
Subject: New Federal Patriot Act Turns Retailers into Spies against
 Customers
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Source:
The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/

New Federal Patriot Act Turns Retailers into Spies against Customers
http://www.bcentral.com/articles/isyndicate/finance/3bfa2d9c.22ab.211 .
1.asp?cobrand=msn

By Scott Bernard Nelson, The Boston Globe
Nov 20, 2001 2:18 AM Nov.  18

--Ordinary businesses, from bicycle shops to bookstores to bowling 
alleys, are being pressed into service on the home front in the war 
on terrorism.

Under the USA Patriot Act, signed into law by President Bush late 
last month, they soon will be required to monitor their customers and 
report "suspicious transactions" to the Treasury Department -- though 
most businesses may not be aware of this.

Buried in the more than 300 pages of the new law is a provision that 
"any person engaged in a trade or business" has to file a government 
report if a customer spends $10,000 or more in cash.  The threshold 
is cumulative and applies to multiple purchases if they're somehow 
related -- three $4,000 pieces of furniture, for example, might 
trigger a filing.

Until now, only banks, thrifts, and credit unions have been required 
to report cash transactions to the Treasury Department's Financial 
Crimes Enforcement Network, under the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970.  A 
handful of other businesses, including car dealers and pawnbrokers, 
have to file similar reports with the Internal Revenue Service.

[...]


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