February 22, 2010 7:42AM 

# Government-Mandated Spying on Bank Customers Undermines both Privacy and Law Enforcement 

By [Daniel J. Mitchell](https://www.cato.org/people/daniel-mitchell) 

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I recently [publicized](http://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/tax-havens-are-not-money-laundering-centers/) an interesting map showing that so-called tax havens are not hotbeds of dirty money. A more fundamental question is whether anti-money laundering laws are an effective way of fighting crime — particularly since they substantially undermine privacy.

In this new six-minute video, I ask whether it’s time to radically rethink a system that costs billions of dollars each year, forces banks to snoop on their customers, and misallocates law enforcement resources.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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