A freedom-focused grassroots organization has issued a nationwide alert about a plan in Congress that would require credit card companies, eBay, Amazon, Google and other companies to report what you buy to the federal government.

FreedomWorks chairman Dick Army said the privacy implications are 'breathtaking.'

'This is a provision with astonishing reach, and it was slipped into the bill just this week,' he said. 'Not only does it affect nearly every credit card transaction in America, such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express, but the bill specifically targets payment systems like eBay's PayPal, Amazon and Google Checkout,' he said.

FreedomWorks said the provision is 'hidden deep in Sen. Christopher Dodd's 630-page Senate housing legislation.' It was added by the bill's managers without debate and calls for a tracking and reporting system 'on nearly every electronic transaction.' ...