Invention of the Email and Bank Secrecy Act - Essay Example

Invention of the Email and Bank Secrecy Act Introduction Human history states that man has always strived towards inventing things to fulfill his needs. Each new inventions changes the pattern of human life and brings with it new responsibilities. Although inventions are made to make life easy and comfortable, it cannot be denied that each innovation can have detrimental consequences. It is how human beings use new inventions that decide their positive or negative impact. Just like a new invention, introduction of a new law also have important impact on human life.

It is the responsibility of governments to impose international laws that will discourage animosity and enhance amity between different nations. Invention of the email Today, global communication has become indispensable in human society as it determines the relationship between people belonging to different nations and cultures. An important mode of communication is the email. It is an electronic method of transmitting messages from one part of the globe to another part in a matter of seconds.

It was in 1978, when a 14 year old boy Shiva Ayyadurai created the first email. Email has definitely brought a new dimension in human communication and interaction. Its impact is even more prominent in the business world with email becoming the most preferred mode of communication. There has been a rapid growth of its popularity since its inception and this has been proved by a survey conducted in February 1998 at an Institution of Information Scientists. According to the survey, 60 participants booked a place by e-mail while the others booked either on the phone or has used fax.

In business today, email is the most common process of communication with clients and off-site staff (Hill, 2005, pp.93-94). Its major advantage is that it is password protected which means the information on email can be accessible only by its user. It also saves time since messages sent via email takes under a second to get transmitted to the target email.The Bank Secrecy Act The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) was first introduced in the year 1970 by Congress in the U.S. in order to protect the global financial system from money related crimes like money laundering and terrorist financing.

Money laundering is the method by which illegally earned money is circulated and integrated in the financial system so as to make it appear clean. Basically, it is a system by which money received from one (illegal) source is appeared to have been received from another (legitimate) source. This helps the criminals to use their money without attracting the attention of lawmakers since the money cannot connect them to their criminal activities. BSA is essentially a tool to combat money laundering.

This 1970 Act made it compulsory for banks and individuals to keep record of their financial transactions. It is also designed to keep track of volumes and transactions of money passing through the U.S. border or deposited in financial institutions. Since the introduction of BSA, various other laws have been created in order to enhance and amend the act to help law enforcement agencies to fight against money laundering (Edge, 2913, pp.27-28).Conclusion The advantages of any new invention depend on how it is used by human beings.

In this communication age, email is the fast and the most cost-effective mode of communication. However, it can be used to spam emails with unsolicited messages. On the other hand, any new law is created to bring order into the society. Its success depends on how well a law is implemented and how effectively it is executed by the law enforcement agencies.ReferencesEdge, K.R. (2013). Money Laundering: It’s a Dirty Business. Tennessee Bar Journal, 49(12), 27-29Hill, M.W. (2005). The Impact of Information on Society.

Walter de Gruyter