[grej]

I like the sentiment of the idea but in practice, I'm not sure it actually works. The major issue is embedded within this quote in the article: "Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes"

Maybe that law would have been caught by the constitutional court, and maybe not. But in any case, it's clear that the modus operandi of too many government agencies is to find an existing law that can be most easily bent or twisted from it's original purpose and context in order to allow them to most effectively enforce what they want to enforce.

Perhaps what's really needed is more upfront transparency - transparency by design. Which, of course, is exactly what governments don't want. But that might be the only truly effective approach, because you aren't going to stop bureaucrats from doing what they do, and power by it's very nature corrupts. But whether it's this case, or the spying scandals, or police abuses, the thing that got the most results, fastest, was exposure of the situation to the public.