Did you know the Federal Reserve is privately owned?

To say that the Federal Reserve is privately owned would be mostly untrue.

The Federal Reserve is a unique legal entity that can be described as an independent government agency with member bank participation. It is organized with a 100% government agency at the top (the Board of Governors), and branches beneath them that are organized like corporations with member banks as shareholders.(Ref: http://www.federalreserveeducation.org/fed101/structure/ , http://www.federalreserve.gov/generalinfo/faq/faqfrs.htm#4 )

The Board of Governors are all appointed for 14-year terms by the president and confirmed by congress. It operates per it's charter and laws set by congress. it is overseen by congress. There is no structure or mechanism for private ownership at this level; it is a government agency. You can confirm this from a number of government sites that list it as a government agency (e.g. http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/independent-agencies.html) Board members are forbidden by law to have any economic interest in a private bank. (Ref: Title 12 chapter 3 of the U.S. Legal Code). The Board determines monetary policy and provides high level oversight of the branches.

The 12 branches can be considered highly regulated private corporations. Member banks are required to buy shares in their branch. Each bank has one vote. They can vote for 6 of their 9 board members, the other 3 are appointed by the Board of Governors. Though the branches are called non-profit, the member banks get a standard 6% dividend on their shares. The remaining 'profit' is turned over to the Treasury at the end of the year.

For confirmation on this, check out how Hoovers classifies them:
http://www.hoovers.com/free/search/simple/xmillion/index.xhtml?query_string=Federal+Reserve&which=company&page=1&x=91&y=2#HooversCompanyNameMatchesH2

And those shares that the member banks own? Some say there are so many restrictions that it falls short of true ownership

From Edward Griffin, noted anti-fed intellect (http://www.bigeye.com/griffin.htm)

"It's a hybrid, part corporation and part government, part private, part government.
..
Every bank that's in the system is an owner of the Federal Reserve... But that's as far as it goes because those stock certificates do not carry with them any of the attributes of private ownership. For example, the holders of these certificates cannot sell them. If you can't sell something then you don't really own it, that's one of the tests of ownership, your ability to dispose of it. You cannot sell it. Furthermore the larger banks put up more money than the smaller banks, it's a ratio to their assets, so the larger banks have more stock certificates in the system than the small ones and yet regardless of the number that they hold, every bank has just one vote. There's another violation of the principle of private ownership. Furthermore that vote doesn't buy them anything. They can't vote for anything of substance; they cannot vote for their national management which is the most important thing, isn't it? The board of directors and chairman of the Federal Reserve System are appointed by the President, they're not elected by the banks that are part of the system, the President does that."