Page 149 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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Political Organizations
and Administrative Law, the American Bankers Association, the ACLU,
the Federal Trade Commission, and the Comptroller of the Currency all
spoke against the rules, while the FDIC and Office of Thrift Supervision
wavered, neither defending the rules nor backing off. The same day,
the House Banking Committee passed an amendment with language
killing Know Your Customer, and the next day Senator Phil Gramm
successfullyattachedlanguagetoaneducationbillterminatingthepolicy.
On March 23, the four banking agencies withdrew Know Your Customer.
LibertarianPartyofficialsclaimmuchcreditfortheoutcome,andtheir
enthusiasm is largely on the mark. It is clear that they played a key role in
generating public comments and directing them at FDIC, although the
efforts of Republicans in Congress are an important part of the reason
whythepolicywasdropped.Intheyearssince,thepartyhasmadesmaller
effortsofasimilarkind,includinganefforttoopposethe2000censusand
a protest over American military involvement in Kosovo that produced
approximately 20,000 comments from citizens to Congress. According to
the party’s national director, cost has limited repetition of the Know Your
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Customercampaign. Althoughfarlesscostlythanothertechniques,the
technology required for such large-scale Internet efforts is still expensive,
andthepartyclaimsitisbuildingthetechnologicalinfrastructureneeded
to engage in such efforts regularly. Party officials also claim to be learning
what kinds of issues are most promising for “chain letter” style political
efforts. They believe that noncontroversial issues are best, in that citizens
who do not necessarily support the solicitation might nonetheless pass
it on to others. They also believe that issues with a clear deadline for
action are more suitable because citizens are more likely to respond to
approaching events, such as votes or public comment periods, than to
issues without a time-based imperative. The party is also sensitive to the
problem of overloading citizens with calls for action, and so believes that
it must approach them sparingly with requests for participation.
The Libertarians’ experience with Know Your Customer amounts to
a preliminary exploration of new means for organizing collective ac-
tion. The party has not yet consolidated or regularized the procedures it
used, although it is attempting to learn how. The effects of reduced costs
were concentrated on the organization’s external relationships rather
than its internal structure. The new environment for information and
communication provided a means to reach beyond its own limited mem-
bership and to mobilize citizens who do not and would not identify with

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Dasbach interview.
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