Gee, what a surprise. And let me just ask, on whose blog did you hear the names of these companies only a few weeks ago...
The New York-based American Civil Liberties Union has fired another salvo in its ongoing battle with the Bush Administration over domestic surveillance, all but accusing the Administration of spying on three additional financial service systems.
According to a release, "ACLU research indicates" that the three named systems are "likely targets." The group said Wednesday they had filed new requests under the Freedom of Information Act to ascertain whether the systems were being surveilled.
The three systems are:
Bolero: The Bill of Lading Electronic Registry Organization is an electronic exchange of trade for documents such as bills of lading (descriptions of shipped goods that control ownership of property when it is in transit). Owned in part by SWIFT, Bolero counts many of the world's largest corporations as customers.
CHIPS: The Clearing House Interbank Payment System, another financial transfer service, is privately owned by the New York Clearing House Association. It primarily handles international funds transfers denominated in U.S. dollars for banks and their large customer transactions. Customers include most of the major U.S. banks.
Fedwire: A wire transfer service run by the Federal Reserve, Fedwire allows U.S. banks to transfer funds to other participants on behalf of each other and their customers.
