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Just what are you trying to say here, besides pointing out the banking industry is making a significant propaganda effort right now? Do you think the industry

by hga 13y ago

Just what are you trying to say here, besides pointing out the banking industry is making a significant propaganda effort right now? Do you think the industry likes the Federal government using lawless means to force them to stop serving whomever is the target de jure? Is it axiomatic that banks dealing with large sums of money is bad??? (I kinda thought that was their business....) If this precedent is established and takes roots, where will it stop? What are your objections to their using the soap box to try put a stop to it?

betterunix 13y ago
Not that I want to that guy, but... "If this president is established and takes roots"
tptacek 13y ago
Can I for once be the origin of a crazy conspiracy theory rather than the annoying guy huffing and griping in the corner and killing everyone's fun? How about this: DOJ has launched a project that coordinates with the country's largest banks to constrain and monitor high-fraud businesses; say, porn sites, prepaid cards, and payday loans. Porn doesn't have a significant lobby. But payday loans and prepaid cards sure as hell do. Unfortunately for those lobbies, it's unseemly to write op-eds about how the DOJ and banks are collaborating to suppress the exploitation of poor people. It is, however, possible to get stories placed about the government's secret plan to create a Morality Police Force to eliminate pornography and, one assumes, any other form of expression the government disfavors.
- hga 13y ago
  So they're now "high-fraud" businesses, vs. "fraudulent businesses" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7671113 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7671113)? And this must be some new meaning of the word "constrain" I wasn't previously acquainted with. This "operation" appears to be intended to terminate these "undesirable" businesses with extreme prejudice, and without the pesky Rule of Law getting in the way.
  - tptacek 13y ago
    When I called payday loan companies "fraudulent", I was letting my biases show. The more accurate way to describe them is with the phrase I used in my latter comment: a high-fraud business, one that hosts quite a bit of fraud.
    - hga 13y ago
      So an acceptable solution is "Kill them all, God will know his own"? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_B%C3%A9ziers#.22Kill_them_all.2C_God_will_know_His_own.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_B%C3%A9ziers#.22Ki...)
      - tptacek 13y ago
        If you want to write an impassioned case on behalf of payday loan companies, be my guest. You asked a question: what did the OP mean when it pointed out that this issue was being driven by op-eds from banking lobbyists? I provided a possible answer.
        hga 13y ago
        My impassioned case is for the Rule of Law. Do the ends justify the means?
        tptacek 13y ago
        Investigations and prosecutions of fraud --- OCP includes criminal prosecutions --- are part of the rule of law. Meanwhile, banks profit directly from fraud by collecting transaction fees. The banking lobby wants to convince the government thank the banks will self-police, but the issue at hand is an externality to the banks. What I'd like to know is, why are EFF and Reason casting this as suppression of pornography? It's the payday lenders and prepaid card scams that are driving the lobbying effort.
        hga 13y ago

by hga 13y ago

betterunix 13y ago

Not that I want to that guy, but... "If this president is established and takes roots"

tptacek 13y ago

Can I for once be the origin of a crazy conspiracy theory rather than the annoying guy huffing and griping in the corner and killing everyone's fun? How about this: DOJ has launched a project that coordinates with the country's largest banks to constrain and monitor high-fraud businesses; say, porn sites, prepaid cards, and payday loans. Porn doesn't have a significant lobby. But payday loans and prepaid cards sure as hell do. Unfortunately for those lobbies, it's unseemly to write op-eds about how the DOJ and banks are collaborating to suppress the exploitation of poor people. It is, however, possible to get stories placed about the government's secret plan to create a Morality Police Force to eliminate pornography and, one assumes, any other form of expression the government disfavors.

hga 13y ago
So they're now "high-fraud" businesses, vs. "fraudulent businesses" (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7671113 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7671113)? And this must be some new meaning of the word "constrain" I wasn't previously acquainted with. This "operation" appears to be intended to terminate these "undesirable" businesses with extreme prejudice, and without the pesky Rule of Law getting in the way.
- tptacek 13y ago
  When I called payday loan companies "fraudulent", I was letting my biases show. The more accurate way to describe them is with the phrase I used in my latter comment: a high-fraud business, one that hosts quite a bit of fraud.
  - hga 13y ago
    So an acceptable solution is "Kill them all, God will know his own"? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_B%C3%A9ziers#.22Kill_them_all.2C_God_will_know_His_own.22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_B%C3%A9ziers#.22Ki...)
    - tptacek 13y ago
      If you want to write an impassioned case on behalf of payday loan companies, be my guest. You asked a question: what did the OP mean when it pointed out that this issue was being driven by op-eds from banking lobbyists? I provided a possible answer.
      - hga 13y ago
        My impassioned case is for the Rule of Law. Do the ends justify the means?
        tptacek 13y ago
        Investigations and prosecutions of fraud --- OCP includes criminal prosecutions --- are part of the rule of law. Meanwhile, banks profit directly from fraud by collecting transaction fees. The banking lobby wants to convince the government thank the banks will self-police, but the issue at hand is an externality to the banks. What I'd like to know is, why are EFF and Reason casting this as suppression of pornography? It's the payday lenders and prepaid card scams that are driving the lobbying effort.
        hga 13y ago