Fingerprint registry in Senate housing bill — Battle moves to House

[flashl]

It is in times of national emergencies that measures infringing on privacy and civil liberties are advocated — and sometimes rushed through without even being discussed — even if they turn out to do little to solve the problem at hand. Then, when the emergency is over, the liberty-stealing measures remain.

The current crisis at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and banks is being characterized as a national emergency, and not surprisingly, political leaders are demanding that war-like financial measures be enacted. But we can’t let the rationale of a financial crisis bring on unwarranted intrusion on our liberties any more than we can let the justification of national security do so.

Last Friday, despite the best efforts a bipartisan coalition including the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Conservative Union, the Senate passed legislation that included the mandatory fingerprint registry we had spoken out in opposition to. The House is now writing new legislation to match portions of the Senate’s for a bill to send to the president.

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Show us the evidence that fingerprinting would have lessened the damage at Fannie, Freddie, and now-insolvent banks! The proponents can’t and they won’t, because there probably is none.

Openmarket

[Muttocracy]

1. wait, finger-printing for whom? nt

[flashl]

2. From article ...

it would affect hundreds of thousands of ordinary employees in the mortgage and real estate industry, including many part-time and clerical workers. The law defines as anyone who “takes a residential loan application; and offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensation or gain.” Real estate agents are also covered if they receive any type of compensation from “originators.”

[Muttocracy]

3. !! I would think Realtors organization would lobby against that. nt