POINTER: The Money Laundromat

[Damaged Justice <frogfarm@yakko.cs.wmich.edu>]

J. Orlin Grabbe's essay, "The Money Laundromat", as published in the
November 1995 issue of Liberty, was sent to me via e-mail by someone
who prefers to remain anonymous. After checking for accuracy against
my own hard copy, I have posted it to the following Usenet newsgroups:

alt.security.pgp
alt.society.sovereign
alt.society.anarchy
talk.politics.crypto

I will be making this article available on my Web page shortly as well.
The article covers both the threat and the promise of digicash, with
much detail devoted to electronic surveillance and financial tracking
via PROMIS software. This single paragraph summarizes rather well:


"...the coming battle over financial footprints is inevitable, and perhaps
inevitably bloody. But in the end it is the money laundering regulations that
will have to go. For one thing, advances in the technology of anonymity are
putting financial privacy within the reach of everyone. For another, there is
a growing awareness that the existing laundering statutes have little or no
effect on terrorism or drug-dealing, but instead are related to an upswing in
government-sponsored harassment of targeted political groups."

-- 
http://yakko.cs.wmich.edu/~frogfarm  ..for the best in unapproved information
 S..O).... The statist wields a bad law! -- More --
 @.../.".. You quickly protect your money pouch! -- More --
 .$*...].. The statist vanishes in a puff of smoke. "Greedy bastard!"