© June 20, 2013
COLLECTING MORE DATA THAN YOU THINK
FOR 60 YEARS, the National Security Agency has been protecting the United States against foreign threats. Now, however, the NSA has focused on threats within the United States.
The Patriot Act and other laws have turned the financial industry into a massive data-collection arm of the government. Financial advisers are required to collect and submit volumes of data on our clients into searchable databases, ostensibly used to fight terrorism.
I just completed a project that was allegedly mandated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. It required 85 data points for every client registration. Data such as the name, address, Social Security number and date of birth have always been required, but now we collect and submit data such as the client's cash on hand, net worth, income, job title, employer and employer's address. I uploaded 52,000 data points on my clients onto a secure server on the Internet.
Knowing these requirements and that over half of all Americans have some type of financial investment, it's hard to imagine that the NSA or some other shadow government agency hasn't found a way to capture this data for future use. Years ago, this type of information was kept on paper, locked in filing cabinets and presented upon inspection. Now this data is very easily searchable.
This data collection is excessive and intrusive. The requirement that it now be available in databases is fraught with everyday security risks, let alone potential government or corporate abuse.
David Beemer
Virginia Beach
