Consumer Information Has Exploded: Government Expanding Bank Data Mining To Spy On Americans

by Monica Davis

The feds are jumping on the data mining bandwagon and are now demanding that private data mining companies hand over information.  Once upon a time, they had to get a warrant to access bank and credit card account information. That was in the good ole days.

Today the federal government’s arms have grown a lot longer, thanks to various national security legislation. Now, using predictive behavior programs, combined with data mined by banks, credit card companies and financial institutions, they know more than ever about you.

They can predict yoiur behavior, based on past purchases, bank account information and credit card usage. The government and banks are spying on you. 

Is your bank snooping on you? Increasingly, the likely answer is yes.

Banks are harnessing new tools to dig into your financial psyche. Credit bureaus and software companies are rolling out more data-digging services, ranging from behavioral scores that measure how and when you spend money to estimates of your liquid wealth, which is any asset easily converted into cash.

Banks are using the resulting reams of data to cross-sell more banking products to consumers or to monitor bank accounts and assess risk.

“Banks are always assessing risk,” says Tena Friery, research director at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that provides consumer information and advocacy. “And some new credit bureau products go beyond credit report ratings.”

Some customized credit scores predict consumers’ likelihood of filing for bankruptcy or gauge their levels of discretionary spending.

 MOREHERE

The Obama administration is reportedly planning to maximize new data miniing technology to access consumer financial data available to the American intelligence community. In other words, your government’s intelligence agencies  will be spying on you, treating you like an enemy of the state–all without a warrant.

According to news sources: 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation already has full access to the database. However, intelligence agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, currently have to make case-by-case requests for information to FinCEN.

The Treasury plan would give spy agencies the ability to analyze more raw financial data than they have ever had before, helping them look for patterns that could reveal attack plots or criminal schemes.