Got this from the Libertarian Party mailing list. If you don't like the FDIC rule, PLEASE respond.

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I'm participating in an Internet campaign to stop a regulation which would require your bank to spy on you, and I'd like to invite you to join me.

We now have less than 20 days to contact the FDIC and demand that it kill its proposed "Know Your Customer" rule. Please forward this message to any friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, or other people you know personally who may be interested. Then go to http://www.defendyourprivacy.com and sign the petition. It will be submitted directly to the FDIC. Plus, a copy will be sent to your representative in the U.S. House and to both your U.S. Senators.

The FDIC's Know Your Customer rule would force banks to "monitor" your checking and savings account and report any "unusual transactions" to the federal government. This frightening threat to your financial privacy would force your bank to:

* Discover your "source of funds"

* Determine your "normal and expected transactions"

* Report any "suspicious activity" to federal investigators

The government claims it is trying to thwart money launderers and drug dealers. But what this law will do is turn every bank teller into a government informer and everyone with a bank account into a criminal suspect.

In a free society, the government has no business asking where you get your money or how you spend it -- and politicians have no right to force your bank to monitor your account.

But that's exactly what's going to happen, unless we can generate enough opposition before the FDIC's comment period expires on March 8. Outraged Americans have already flooded the FDIC with over 15,000 comments against the Know Your Customer regulation -- but the agency hasn't backed down yet.

Let's keep up the pressure.

Please forward this e-mail to everyone you know who might be interested in helping, but please don't send it indiscriminately -- spam will only hurt our campaign.

Then go to our web page (http://www.defendyourprivacy.com) and sign the petition. Thank you.

-- Leo (lchampion@ozemail.com.au), February 17, 1999

Answers

Leo: Do you have direct contact with them? Contact them ASAP to fix their submittal engine. I tried it, and it would not accept entries. Granted I used dummy data, but it was reasonable enough; I even filled in the "optional" fields. If the lib party requires "real names" to make the petition legit, forget it. Why make it easy for the pigs to add our real personas to their lists? At least make the pigs work a bit to get our real name and location for their lists.

-- Yes (Yes@IamParanoid.com), February 17, 1999.

aren't you in australia there bloke?

-- why the hell (do@you.care), February 17, 1999.

I'm in Australia, and I wish there was a Libertarian party here. As it is, I intend to be a US citizen as soon as I can get my green-card.

-- Leo (lchampion@ozemail.com.au), February 17, 1999.

This is scary stuff ! Go to http://www.fdic.gov/banknews/know.html

to read the full text of the ruel, and send your comments to the address shown there? They are reading the comments, because they have a chart showing the types of comments they have received. They have received about 30,000 comments so far...

-- y2kbiker (y2kbiker@bellatlantic.net), February 17, 1999.

Tried it again, after getting an e-mail from the site webmaster. Address is not optional if the zip code overlaps more than one congressional district. Address (even if djinned up) must correspond to the zip code you enter.

So, with those caveats in mind, I was successful in getting a valid fake petition submitted. :-)

-- Yes (Yes@IamParanoid.com), February 18, 1999.