New Federal Patriot Act Turns Retailers into Spies

[Duncan Frissell]

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The Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/

New Federal Patriot Act Turns Retailers into Spies against Customers

By Scott Bernard Nelson, The Boston Globe
Nov 20, 2001 2:18 AM Nov.  18

--Ordinary businesses, from bicycle shops to bookstores to bowling
alleys, are being pressed into service on the home front in the war
on terrorism.

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One problem with these horror stories -- this has been the law for circa
20 years.

See IRS Form 8300:
 http://ftp.fedworld.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8300.pdf

I forget when these rules were enacted but I do remember writing about
them in the middle 1980s.

DCF