Yeah, the issue is evading records keeping requirements. The issue is not encrypted communications.

These articles make me pucker my asshole. Like it could be that thing that sends us down that slippery slope.

I worked at a firm that was regulated and audited by the SEC. The standard lesson from the compliance department was always to have potentially problematic conversations out loud instead of in email or Slack. They never needed encryption to avoid regulators.

Never considered this angle but you're right.

I see this as a "yes, Signal is secure, look, they used it and are getting away with it too" narrative.

I thought about that already. It's absolutely intentional, because you already know that they'll keep using those apps, and even if they were illegal, they would keep using them and just get another fine, which is obviously not something that bothers them. It's to prevent normal people from having any privacy.

they really need to start with forfeiting all profits. and then maybe a percentage-based fine on top of that.

make it really painful, in the only place these people can be hurt.

I feel like they need to apply charges like conspiracy and fraud against the individuals responsible. When I worked in national security oriented roles, the standard response when being asked to break the law (eg reveal classified info) was to say “I could do that, but I look really bad in orange.”

If the individuals being asked to commit violations and crimes were held individually responsible more often, people would be less likely to do it.

White collar crime costs the economy far more than other kinds of crime, and that’s due to a lack of enforcement caused by misaligned priorities.

The obvious first step is revocation and personal barring for life every single person who participated in the communication from holding a SEC license. The second is jail time for anyone who did it willfully. The third is revocation of their corporation or, in the interest of stockholders who are about to become personally liable, a 50 year probationary period in which revocation of corporation is automatic should any other infraction come to light.

Its a shit show. Staff can't event send a text saying they are sick unless they use an approved business communication channel.

Worst still, if you receive said comms from staff on a non approved channel, eg your personal phone, you have to report it to HR.

There is no way bank's can operate like that so the regulator is going to be lining their pockets for quite some time.

It's the American version of HSBC

U.S. regulators on Tuesday announced a combined $549 million in penalties against Wall Street firms that failed to maintain electronic records of employee communications.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against 11 firms for “widespread and longstanding failures” to maintain records, including by allowing employees to use unsupervised side channels such as messaging apps WhatsApp and Signal, the regulator said.

Wells Fargo was the biggest U.S. bank cited Tuesday in the sweeping actions.

beep boop, I'm not a bot