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IRS: We Also Gave Away Your Information
In a move certain to amaze commentators, the IRS announced today that they may have accidentally given away confidential information about taxpayers. So let's review the IRS business model, shall we? 1) Make you give them money or send them to jail, 2) Spend billions on modernization program that produces no results, 3) Give away bad information to callers asking for help, and 4) Lose important personal taxpayer information. With a plan like this, how could they go wrong?
I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried, folks. According to the Reuters article, "..The GAO team was able to tap into the data without authorization, and gleaned information such as bank account holders' names, social security numbers, transaction values, and any suspected terrorist activity. It said the data was at serious risk of disclosure, modification or destruction..."
Later the article says there is no proof that anyone besides the GAO was able to view and modify information at will. I'm not so sure that is reassuring. "Hey. Sure somebody broke in, but who knows if anybody else did? There's no proof." doesn't sound like much of a defense.
Whatever happens here, taxpayers in the USA can at least hope that perhaps someday the IRS will get straightened out. I wish them all the luck. If they worked for me, they would be fired by now.
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