“The risk of the CIA getting its hands on this is serious – we know the kind of unscrupulous people who populate the spook world. This kind of financial data, when coupled with other information like a person’s credit history, could be used for blackmail, bribery, and extortion.” DTS could present an inviting mechanism for quieting unwanted dissent or for defanging an unruly congressional leader bent on exposing some questionable CIA operation.
Predictor: Kimery, Anthony L.
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for Wired magazine, Anthony Kimery, an editor at American Banker Newsletters, outlines the U.S. government’s efforts to keep a handle on private financial transactions. Kimery writes about the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network – FinCEN: ”Before the CIA would be allowed to tap into a system as sensitive as the proposed Deposit Tracking System, it would have to clear plenty of civil liberties hurdles, not the least of which is the prohibition on the CIA from gathering intelligence on U.S. citizens. As long as the DTS itself was shielded from direct access by the CIA, proponents could argue that the operation was allowable under law. Opponents, on the other hand, fear that the CIA would find a way to download, copy, or otherwise secretly access the DTS. ‘The risk of the CIA getting its hands on this is serious – we know the kind of unscrupulous people who populate the spook world,’ said a Washington-area private investigator who conducts many legitimate financial investigations for a CIA-linked firm. ‘This kind of financial data, when coupled with other information like a person’s credit history, could be used for blackmail, bribery, and extortion,’ said the investigator, who has a military intelligence background. DTS could present an inviting mechanism for quieting unwanted dissent or for defanging an unruly congressional leader bent on exposing some questionable CIA operation.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Big Brother Wants to Look in Your Bank Account: The U.S. Government is Constructing a System to Track All Financial Transactions in Real-Time – Ostensibly to Catch Criminals. Does That Leave You With the Warm Fuzzies – or Scare You Out of Your Wits?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.06/big.brother_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney