[lcnPylGDnU4H9OF]

So these statements seem to contradict each other:

> Government ownership of data means they don't have to respect privacy because they already own the data.

> Banks exist as long as they are in the good graces of regulators.

So we have this problem that the government doesn't want to respect our privacy and the problem that the government doesn't need to respect our privacy and somehow removing the bank in the middle will mean that the government isn't respecting our privacy.

If the government is in control of the banks it will make it more obvious to the average citizen that the government has the ability to snoop on transaction information and it might be that such citizens decide to demand stricter privacy measures.

Back to this statement:

> Banks exist as long as they are in the good graces of regulators.

That's kinda my point. The governments run the banks in practice, just not in theory. Changing that "not in theory" part brings the understanding to the citizenry that they can demand certain things from their bank.

[tastyfreeze]

I do not agree that giving government more power over banks is the solution. It may make it obvious to everybody what reality is but you just handed the keys to the entity that is abusing their powers already. Giving the government more power only reduces ours.