Bank of America allegedly gave the FBI private data of its customers as part of a larger investigation on the incident at the DC Capitol on January 6th. There are a few criteria that people needed to meet in order to get swept up in the FBI’s investigation dragnet. According to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Bank of America gave up information on people who purchased anything in the Washington DC area around the time of the Capitol riot including everything from a candy bar to an AIR BNB. The FBI also wanted data on anyone who purchased firearms in the DC area around the time of the riot, as well as anyone who traveled by air. The destination of the flight someone booked was not even relevant.
After all of the criteria were met and sorted through, there was a list of 211 people handed over to the FBI. At least one person was contacted and cleared that is known to the public thus far. But there are probably many other FBI investigations from to the bank data currently on-going as well as people who have been contacted the bureau. An immediate argument from the side of people defending BoA is that they were well within their legal rights to do what they did. And as a matter of fact, Bank of America themselves released a statement saying that they complied with the law as they are supposed to. Basically, the bank’s hands were tied on the issue.
There’s one problem with Bank of America’s stance. While it is required for banks to cooperate with law enforcement, the question is… to what extent? Sure it is legal and lawful to request information via subpoena when it comes to criminal suspects. But what about regular, everyday Americans who are not suspects nor charged with a crime? Without BoA’s data, the FBI may have never known that a particular person was in DC or not. There must be some type of firewall between regular, law-abiding citizens and criminals who don’t care at all. And if there is no such firewall, then rights of everyday Americans are clearly becoming more and more meaningless.
SOURCES:
Tucker Carlson: Bank of America handed over customer data to feds following Capitol riot | Fox News
Ex-Chicago Firefighter Put Through Hell over Mistaken Identity | Firehouse
People at the US Capitol riot are being identified and losing their jobs – CNN
