UIGEA Fallout! Don't Worry about the eWallets: Worry about the Network

[vinyard]

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Good catch. My description was a little misleading. Bank wires do travel on a network that is less willing to participate in the DOJ's witch hunt. That being said, a US citizen would need to initiate a transfer via a US bank (unless they had a foreign bank account in which case the argument is moot). If the DOJ supplies a list of recipient accounts that US banks should ban from transferring funds to it has the same effect as an ACH/EFT blockage.

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Umm and how would they acquire and maintain that list? One of the key components of the SWIFT network is that it maintains near absolute data privacy. SWIFT has agreed to let the monitoring of its transactions under excepionally restricitve conditions and with very reliable safeguards about the US maintaining their safeguards.

Swift's explanation of US DoJ access to their financial records

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Can the data be used for any purpose?
No. Important restrictions apply to how the UST can access and use the data. The UST cannot simply browse through the data. They are only allowed to see data that is responsive to targeted searches in the context of a specific terrorism investigation. Data searches must be based only on persons, entities or related information with an identified connection to an ongoing terrorism investigation or other intelligence that the target is connected to terrorism.

The UST cannot search the data for any other purpose such as ‘economic espionage’ or for evidence of any non-terrorist related crimes such as tax evasion, money laundering or any other criminal activity. As a result, the UST accesses only a minute fraction of the data that SWIFT is required to provide. A record is made of every single search.

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Emphasis mine, clearly. In short, if you read those pages, is pretty clear that SWIFT isn't agreeing to expand US subpoena power as they have a lot to lose and nothing to gain. Billman, you have either been somewhat grossly and intentionally trying to mislead people in this thread into hysterics or, contrary to your earlier assertions you don't indeed know everything you claim to about banking in general and the likelihood of moving money to and from sites becoming infeasible specifically. Others can decide how they feel about that.