Pieper pointed out that the DHS's practice of aggregating financial activity data of U.S. citizens to analyze and provide leads on potential criminals to local law enforcement is inherently authoritarian because it relies on mass surveillance to determine whether individuals might become criminals of the state. He argued that inferring political leanings based on spending habits and targeting individuals accordingly is an abuse of the financial system. The article also mentioned FinCEN's potential role in collecting and sharing financial data, as well as historical cases in Canada and the U.S. where financial surveillance was used to target political dissidents.