Patriot Act Protest: Canadian Style

Parent Cafe
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<p><a href=“http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051123/visa_bill_051123/[/url]”>http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20051123/visa_bill_051123/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>When Don Rogers found out that his bank had outsourced its credit card processing to a U.S. company – potentially, he believes, putting his personal information at risk – he decided to do something about it.</p>

<p>The 62-year-old retired city councillor from Kingston, Ont., paid his $230 Visa bill with Citizens Bank of Canada in 985 installments – often pennies at a time – in protest.</p>

<p>Rogers was worried that by allowing a U.S. company to review all his purchases, U.S. authorities could gain access to his personal information under the Patriot Act, a controversial piece of legislation that the U.S. hopes will help them crack down on terrorism but that has privacy advocates worried.</p>

<p>“This has huge implications for privacy of Canadians,” Rogers told CTV’s Canada AM Wednesday, "because once your personal data enters the United States, it becomes subject to American law.</p>

<p>“The Patriot Act could kick in and your information could be forcibly turned over to the American government.”</p>

<p>Rogers complained to his bank, but didn’t like the response.</p>

<p>“They were very pleasant at first and sympathetic. But as I refused to let go of the issue, their position hardened somewhat.”</p>

<p>When the bank refused to stop outsourcing their Visa billing processing to a company in Georgia, Rogers decided to fight back.</p>

<p>“I usually pay my credit card statement with one payment each month, transferring it by Internet from my bank account to my Visa account,” he explained.</p>

<p>“And I thought well, hey, what would happen if I transferred one cent? So I tried it and it went through. So what I did was basically pay off a large part of my Visa in one cent and five-cent, nickel dime payments.”</p>

<p>The result was a payment statement that grew to 35 pages long and a half-inch thick.</p>

<p>“It came with a heck of a thump through the letter slot,” Rogers laughs.</p>

<p>The maneuver created a huge headache for accounting personnel at Citizens Bank and generated a phone call from the bank’s information technology department.</p>

<p>“I told the guy, 'Well, I’m trying to get your bank president’s attention. He said ‘You have got his attention’.”</p>

<p>Rogers has also gotten the attention of a number of news outlets who have pressing him for interviews – much to his satisfaction.</p>

<p>“It is gratifying that the little guy can fight the big corporations and make an impact.”</p>

<p>Rogers says he still isn’t sure whether his stunt is going to make his bank change its policy. He’s given them until Jan. 1, 2006, to return their payment processing back to Canada.</p>

<p>“The way it was left about a week ago, the last discussion I had with the bank’s vice-president in charge of Visa was that they would be back to me shortly and we declared a temporary truce. So I’m waiting to hear from them.”</p>

<p>Rogers jokes that the moral of the story is: don’t mess with a retiree – “retired folks are dangerous. We have time on our hands” – but he believes that other Canadians should be asking the kinds of questions he asked.
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<p>“I think Canadians have to speak up. There’s Canadian sovereignty involved.”</p>

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<p>Sounds like terrorism to me. He had better be careful lest he wake up and find himself on a private jet to Syria where he will be asked some tough questions.</p>

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<p>Canada does not even have freedom of the press. He should worry more about strange Canadian laws.</p>

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<p>The guy is clearly clueless, and obviously doesn’t understand the components of the Patriot Act that apply to banking, SARs filings, etc. How unfortunate that no one at his bank took the time to explain it to him - but then I guess his bank is equally clueless, and maybe understandably so since it’s not their law.</p>

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<p>He probably doesn’t realize that his government also outsourced the defense of the “sovereignty” to the United States years ago. The Canadians, who fought proudly in WWII alongside Americans, now have virtually no Army, a miniscule Navy, helicopters that can barely fly, submarines that are inoperable, old weapons, etc. They’re very happy, I guess, to operate under our umbrella of protection. </p>

<p>He should also look into how lopsided the Canadian banking laws are - it is virtually impossible for an American bank to operate in Canada. Yet Canadian banks have been very active in buying banks in the U.S. </p>

<p>I like Canada but they are starting to act like Europeans. Maybe we could tow Canada and anchor it off the coast of France.</p>

<p>The good news is that once Quebec breaks off - a number of provinces will want to become part of the United States. Alberta has more in common with Texas than with Ontario. The Maritimes are poor and would be much more successful economically as part of the U.S.</p>

<p>And don’t be fooled by the success of the Canadian healthcare system. A Canadian who need hip or knee replacement surgery has a wait of almost a YEAR!!! And if your physician thinks you might have lung cancer, a wait of 8 to 10 weeks for a chest x-ray. Fun, huh! But they are all covered.</p>

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<p>I love how some Americans make completely incorrect generalizations about Canada, and haven’t even been there.</p>

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<p>Seattle hospitals are full of Canadians who did not want to wait a year for a needed surgery.</p>

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<p>^They can afford it…with all the money they save from paying ridiculously high medical premiums, drugs and other cost here.</p>

<p>In republican jargon it is called private medical savings account. :)</p>