Live Online Policy Forum 

# Financial Surveillance: The Ultimate Surveillance Black Hole? 

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Date and Time 

October 13, 2026 1 - 2 PM EDT 

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##### Featuring 

![Aaron Klein circle](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-08/aaron-klein-circle.jpeg?itok=bGgzQSQm) 

Aaron Klein 

Miriam K. Carliner Chair and Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, Brookings Institution

[ 

](https://twitter.com/Aarondklein) 

![Carole House_cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-09/Carole%20House_cropped.jpg?itok=ADKfYZpb) 

Carole House 

Nonresident Senior Fellow, GeoEconomics Center, Atlantic Council

[![Nicholas Anthony Cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-02/NicholasAnthony-cropped.jpg?itok=f4HYrot7)](/people/nicholas-anthony) 

[Nicholas Anthony](/people/nicholas-anthony)

Research Fellow, Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives

[ 

](https://x.com/EconWithNick) 

[![Patrick G. Eddington](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Patrick%20Eddington.jpg?itok=ddIWrIm5)](/people/patrick-g-eddington) 

[Patrick G. Eddington](/people/patrick-g-eddington)

Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/pgeddington) [ 

](mailto:peddington@cato.org) 

More than 50 years since the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) was enacted, the law remains one of the most invasive from a personal privacy standpoint. The financial transaction reports generated by the BSA’s mandate number in the tens of millions annually, and the transaction amount that can trigger such surveillance and reporting is relatively modest by current standards. And if one of your financial transactions triggers a BSA-related alert from your bank to federal law enforcement, you’ll likely never learn of it—unless federal agents arrive at your business or home to question you.

How effective has the BSA actually been in detecting or deterring financial crimes? What has it cost us in Fourth Amendment terms? And are there alternatives that fight financial crime without violating constitutional rights? Our panelists don’t agree on all the answers—they span the spectrum from reforming the BSA to repealing it—and they’ll tackle these questions and others in what promises to be a lively debate.

#### This event is part of the 2026 Cato Surveillance Week series:

[![Domestic-Foreign Surveillance](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2026-09/Domestic-Foreign%20Surveillance.jpg?itok=aKIsOE0U)](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-domestic-foreign-electronic-surveillance-nexus) 

##### October 12, 2026

#### [The Domestic-Foreign Electronic Surveillance Nexus](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-domestic-foreign-electronic-surveillance-nexus)

More than a quarter century after the so-called “Global War on Terror” spawned a series of government surveillance programs and technologies, a political and legal reckoning over these practices is beginning.

[![Financial Surveillance](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2026-09/Financial%20Surveillance.jpg?itok=TFJQH5mD)](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-financial-surveillance-ultimate-surveillance-black-hole) 

##### October 13, 2026

#### [Financial Surveillance: The Ultimate Surveillance Black Hole?](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-financial-surveillance-ultimate-surveillance-black-hole)

More than 50 years since the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) was enacted, the law remains one of the most invasive from a personal privacy standpoint.

[![Travel Surveillance.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2026-09/Travel%20Surveillance.jpg?itok=ZPRL51kK)](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-papers-please-transportation-surveillance) 

##### October 14, 2026

#### [Papers, Please: Transportation Surveillance](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-papers-please-transportation-surveillance)

Multiple Supreme Court rulings since 1868 have recognized the right to travel, both domestically and, in later rulings, internationally, as a basic constitutional right.

[![Commercial Data Surveillance](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2026-09/Commercial%20Data%20Surveillance.jpg?itok=0CTKDN7n)](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-commercially-available-data-fourth-amendment-loophole) 

##### October 15, 2026

#### [Commercially Available Data: The Fourth Amendment Loophole?](https://www.cato.org/events/cato-surveillance-week-2026-commercially-available-data-fourth-amendment-loophole)

With geolocation data, tracking ads, and your purchase history, the list of commercially available personal data that federal, state, and local law enforcement can acquire—using our own tax dollars to do so—is a long one.

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This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).