http://www.bloomberg.com/…

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third- biggest U.S. bank by assets, agreed to acquire Washington Mutual Inc.’s deposits and branches for $1.9 billion after regulators seized the thrift in the biggest bank failure in U.S. history.

Customers withdrew $16.7 billion from WaMu accounts since Sept. 16, leaving the Seattle-based bank “unsound,” the Office of Thrift Supervision said today. WaMu’s branches will open tomorrow and customers will have full access to all their accounts, Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said on a conference call.

“JPMorgan is getting a steal compared with what they were going to pay,” said Scott Adams, a pension and investment analyst at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Oakland, California, which owns WaMu shares. “It’s very tragic.”

WaMu collapsed as its credit rating was slashed to junk and its stock price tumbled. Facing $19 billion of losses on soured mortgage loans, the lender put itself up for sale last week after firing CEO Kerry Killinger this month. The bank named Alan Fishman as his replacement on Sept. 8, agreeing to pay him a $7.5 million signing bonus and $1 million salary.

JPMorgan won’t acquire WaMu’s liabilities, including claims by shareholders and subordinated and senior debt holders, the FDIC said.

The consolidation continues. Any bets on who’s next?

http://www.thenewspaper.com/…

Privacy advocates have long viewed red light cameras with the suspicion that the devices were the first step down a path of increased surveillance. Those fears may come true as the city of Oakland, California has revealed that it is working with the state legislature to secure a change in the law that will allow red light cameras to become full-scale surveillance cameras. In a memo from the Oakland Police Department dated June 26, Police Chief Wayne G. Tucker recommended that the city’s lobbyist be ordered to advocate a new law in Sacramento.

“The legislation would also allow the use of those (red light camera) images for evidentiary purposes other than the enforcement of red light violations, such as reckless driving, assaults, public nuisance activity, drug dealing, etc.”

The request came in conjunction with a plan to allow camera vendor Redflex to operate 20 video cameras at intersections 24-hours a day. The city council unanimously approved this ticketing contract with the Australian company on July 17 which is expected to generate several million in new revenue.

Ah yes… ’several million in new revenue.” I’m glad that those in power believe our privacy is for sale. This police state/Big Brother topic is brought up a lot on the blog of bile… but it’s only because this topic is unfortunately exponentially topical. We must fight this errosion of our privacy. It will not make you safer. It will not keep you free.