Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists

[The Sushi Bandit]

Source: Washington Post

Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay area to be issued today.

"The way in which the list is being used goes far beyond contexts in which it has a link to national security," said Shirin Sinnar, the report's author. "The government is effectively conscripting private businesses into the war on terrorism but doing so without making sure that businesses don't trample on individual rights."

The lawyers' committee has documented at least a dozen cases in which U.S. customers have had transactions denied or delayed because their names were a partial match with a name on the list, which runs more than 250 pages and includes 3,300 groups and individuals. No more than a handful of people on the list, available online, are U.S. citizens.


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032602088.html?sub=new

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here is a link to the list....

http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/t11sdn.pdf

[Newsjock]

1. And the "outcry" will be barely a peep

This is not the America I grew up in.

[DBoon]

2. another secret list to put activist's names on

somebody pisses off the administration, just slip their name on this list. No car loans, no credit, and no way to get off the list

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

7. Not secret.

The list is linked from the post. I'm browsing through it now.

[MikeNearMcChord]

3. My sincere hope, is that when the Democrats control

the show in DC, in '08, they scrap the whole war on terrah and have a common sense approach. I kind've wish some prominent Repuke had his name on that list and see how he likes it!

[AX10]

5. I agree with you.

[951-Riverside]

4. I seriously doubt they would turn away "drug traffickers" n/t

[Demeter]

6. Can't Think of a Better Way to Turn Innocent Citizens Into Terrorists

than to deny them habeus corpus and other assorted Constitutional rights and protections.

[formercia]

8. I can verify this

My daughter works for a bank and told me of this practice last year. I tried to get more out of her but she said the government swore her to secrecy and that she would be in big trouble if she discussed details. She did say that all new accounts have to be crosschecked against the list and any supicious transactions reported.

Seig Heil!

[bonito]

9. Not to be confused with the NSLs

On US citizens, It would be interesting to find the criteria (if any) for these.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Now this quote sums up how idiotically sheeplike some people are

Still, Neil Leverenz, chief executive of Automotive Compliance Center in Phoenix, a firm that helps auto dealers comply with federal law, said he spoke to the general manager of a Tucson dealership who tearfully told him that if he had known to check the OFAC list in late summer of 2001, he would not have sold the car used by Mohamed Atta, who went on to fly a plane into the World Trade Center.

Bulletin to Mr. Leverenz: he didn't drive the car into the WTC, you simpleton. Perhaps the supermarket that sold him food or the Walmart where he bought his cigarettes should feel bad about enabling him too.

[The Sushi Bandit]

11. This is just the Public list

I want to see the secret one with the names of democratic staffers on it!

[acmavm]

12. Crap, one of my temp jobs was at a title company for that did

primarily Wells Fargo mortgages and every damn day I'd have to run peoples names to see if they were terrorists. Seriously, it was a damn farce.

[IChing]

13. Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists

Source: WP

Ordinary Customers Flagged as Terrorists
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 27, 2007; Page D01


Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.


"The way in which the list is being used goes far beyond contexts in which it has a link to national security," said Shirin Sinnar, the report's author. "The government is effectively conscripting private businesses into the war on terrorism but doing so without making sure that businesses don't trample on individual rights.">>>>snip

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032602088.html

[The Sushi Bandit]

14. dupe

here is the original thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2782569&mesg_id=2782569

[IChing]

15. thanks it didn't show on submission

important news mod
delete.

[Earth_First]

19. The list:

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/sdn/t11sdn.pdf

[stormymonday]

16. So when one John Smith turns to terrorism

every other John Smith in the world is screwed.

[Hissyspit]

17. Report: Some Unjustly Labelled As Terrorists

Source: Associated Press

Mar 27, 1:58 PM EDT
Report: Some Unjustly Labeled Terrorists

By JULIANA BARBASSA
Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Businesses checking customers' names against a Treasury Department terrorist watch list are sometimes denying services to innocent people, according to a report released Tuesday by civil rights lawyers.

The 250-page list, posted publicly on a Treasury Department Web site, is being used by credit bureaus, health insurers and car dealerships, as well as employers and landlords, according to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The list includes some of the world's most common names, such as Gonzalez, Lopez, Ali, Hussein, Abdul, Lucas and Gibson, and companies are often unsure how to root out mismatches. Some turn consumers away rather than risk penalties of up to $10 million and 30 years in prison for doing business with someone on the list, the group said.

"Much of (this screening) is overbroad and unnecessary, and increasingly denies Americans services, livelihoods, and their good name based on opaque determinations and administrative fiat," the report said. One California couple, Tom and Nanci Kubbany, were denied a loan to buy a home when his credit report came back with an alert saying his middle name, Hassan, was an alias for one of Saddam Hussein's sons.

MORE


Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TERRORIST_LIST?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

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Ya think? ...duh...

[youngdem]

18. I'm gonna file this under 'D' for Duh