4 ms·
Seizing funds from criminals to restrict their ability to perpetrate and profit from crime is a tool used by law enforcement in essentially every country, and h
by akerl_ 5y ago
Seizing funds from criminals to restrict their ability to perpetrate and profit from crime is a tool used by law enforcement in essentially every country, and has been happening for a long time.
There’s plenty of areas of this that are misused (see things like civil asset forfeiture), but the overarching strategy of freezing bank accounts isn’t novel or dystopian.
Edit: it’s a bit sneaky to change “AT ALL” to “WITHOUT A TRIAL” without calling out the change.
- edmcnulty101 5y agoEdited!
- pomdapi 5y agoYeah, but in most countries there is due process in front of a judge to do that. You can't just have the executive decide they can do that using pure administrative action to seize property. Also, you generally also have to prove in a court of law there was a crime before you can do anything at all. The US civilian asset forfeiture (and now in Canada too, it seems) are actually quite unique in that regard outside of maybe China (not sure even you can do that there anymore), and at most couple other dystopian very authoritarian nations.
- akerl_ 5y agoAs has now been called out by the person I replied to, when I typed my reply, they said seizing funds “at all” was dystopian. They’ve now amended the comment to specify without the involvement of the judiciary.
- pomdapi 5y agoOk, gotcha. Guess we were all a little asymmetrical with our "reply" button pushes.
- hluska 5y agoNote that this is not asset forfeiture. The order only authorizes financially institutions to temporarily freeze accounts if they suspect they’re being used to fund illegal blockades. They can temporarily freeze accounts without a court order without any fear of legal liability. That’s it. It’s a time out, not a forfeiture. The Emergency Act is powerful, but this invocation isn’t that powerful.
- yonaguska 5y agoAh, perfect, the corporations are free to do the govt bidding without explicit pressure from the govt. They'll work hand in hand though. This feels like they are just making what GoFundMe did, legal after the fact.
- hluska 5y agoSorry pal, but this doesn’t make much/any sense.
- bregma 5y agoWell, the big corporations and the government have always worked hand in hand. What they do under the covers when they're in bed with each other is their business.
- pomdapi 5y agoShouldn't it be everybody's ? Is Canada throwing the market efficiency and equity principles baby with the trucker's protest bathwater ?
- TeeMassive 5y ago> The order only authorizes financially institutions to temporarily freeze accounts if they suspect they’re being used to fund illegal blockades. Oh yeah, letting a bureaucrat freeze assets on an arbitrary basis people's savings and then, eventually, another bureaucrat will unfreeze it. Rights delayed are rights denied.
- ed25519FUUU 5y agoHow many protesters have had their bank accounts frozen in the past for disobedience?