USA Patriot Act

On December 13th 2003 US President George W. Bush signed into law portions of the expanded USA Parriot Act (Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004). The Act included a simple, yet insidious, redefinition of "financial institution," which previously referred to banks, but now includes stockbrokers, car dealerships, casinos, credit card companies, insurance agencies, jewelers, airlines, the U.S. Post Office, and any other business "whose cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory matters." In other words, even though I claim that you have privacy, the US Federal government can demand that I supply your information to them at any time, without a warrent, and that I can not tell you or I will face criminal prosecution (yes, those are really the rules). Actually, if you read the law you have no privacy. We just wanted to make sure that you were aware of it and that we have no control over it at all. So, besides that, we will continue to do all we can to protect your privacy in every other way.