Hidden deep in the Senate housing bailout legislation was a sweeping provision inserted by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) that affected the privacy and operation of nearly all of America's small businesses.The provision, which was added by the bill's managers without debate, requires the nation's payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.

From the Bill Summary:

Payment Card and Third Party Network Information Reporting. The proposal requires information reporting on payment card and third party network transactions. Payment settlement entities, including merchant acquiring banks and third party settlement organizations, or third party payment facilitators acting on their behalf, will be required to report the annual gross amount of reportable transactions to the IRS and to the participating payee. Reportable transactions include any payment card transaction and any third party network transaction. Participating payees include persons who accept a payment card as payment and third party networks who accept payment from a third party settlement organization in settlement of transactions. A payment card means any card issued pursuant to an agreement or arrangement which provides for standards and mechanisms for settling the transactions. Use of an account number or other indicia associated with a payment card will be treated in the same manner as a payment card. A de minimis exception for transactions of $10,000 or less and 200 transactions or less applies to payments by third party settlement organizations. The proposal applies to returns for calendar years beginning after December 31, 2010. Back-up withholding provisions apply to amounts paid after December 31, 2011. This proposal is estimated to raise $9.802 billion over ten years.

The only way that we can get this stopped is by letting Chuck Grassley and the rest of the Senate know that we won't stand for this invasion of our privacy.

If you're interested in telling Senator Grassley to keep his eyes off of your online transactions, please fill out the form below.