Arizona-Led Effort Spies on Americans’ Financial Transactions

If you’ve sent or received money to or from somebody in Mexico, law-enforcement agencies have probably tracked your transactions.

In fact, if you’ve sent money across American borders at all, Big Brother is likely watching. In what began as an Arizona-led effort before going nationwide, a not-so-independent nonprofit organization has been indiscriminately compiling sensitive financial information and making it available to law-enforcement agencies across the country.

Last year, Sen. Ron Wyden (D–Ore.) revealed that “Homeland Security Investigations used a form of subpoena power to order two companies to turn over every money transfer over $500, to and from California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. This data was shared with hundreds of federal, state and local government agencies, who can search it without any court oversight, through a non-profit created by the Arizona Attorney General.”

His office subsequently discovered the surveillance was worse than originally believed.

“The program included far more states and foreign nations than the government disclosed in briefings,” Wyden’s office announced this week. The government demanded data from many other companies, including Euronet (RIA Envia), MoneyGram and Viamericas, and “included records for transfers of $500 or more between any U.S. state and 22 foreign nations and one U.S. territory.” Agencies demanding data included not just the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Arizona, but also the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) under the Department of Justice. – READ MORE