IRS to keep unreviewable secret dossiers on US citizens

Excerpts from : St Paul Pioneer Press, Jan 29, 1995

"IRS plans to collect more data on individuals to nab tax cheats"

a "vast expansion of secret computer database of information it
keeps on virtually all Americans" will include "credit reports,
news stories, tips from informants,  and real estate, motor vehicle
and child support records, plus conventional Govt financial data"

"Any individual who has business and/or financial activities can
expect upgraded agency reports to be put to IRS auditors promptly"

Here's the kicker: "Although agency officials concede that some of
the data collected will be inaccurate, taxpayers will not be allowed
to review or correct it"                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
So much for the FOIA.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
P M Dierking |

xpat@vm1.spcs.umn.edu says:
> Excerpts from : St Paul Pioneer Press, Jan 29, 1995
> 
> Here's the kicker: "Although agency officials concede that some of
> the data collected will be inaccurate, taxpayers will not be allowed
> to review or correct it"                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> So much for the FOIA.

The privacy act and FOIA make that more or less illegal -- if they are
keeping information on you, with certain law enforcement related
exceptions they have to let you see it.

Perry

Perry E. Metzger wrote:

> xpat@vm1.spcs.umn.edu says:
> > Excerpts from : St Paul Pioneer Press, Jan 29, 1995
> > 
> > Here's the kicker: "Although agency officials concede that some of
> > the data collected will be inaccurate, taxpayers will not be allowed
> > to review or correct it"                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > So much for the FOIA.
> 
> The privacy act and FOIA make that more or less illegal -- if they are
> keeping information on you, with certain law enforcement related
> exceptions they have to let you see it.

The articles I've read on this new system ("Compliance 2000") make it
clear that the IRS will be buying data from non-governmental entities,
e.g., the direct marketing databases and the commercial credit
reporting agencies. This neatly skirts the FOIA, as the FOIA cannot be
used to force a private entity or corporation to reveal its own data
(which, as a libertarian, I am glad of....I wouldn't want folks
demanding to sift through my records, files, and dossiers).

This just extends the type of "subcontracting" to nominally private
entities that the intelligence community began many years ago. The
corporation, "Dossiers R Us," will be the "Air America" for our age.

--Tim May


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A copy of the IRS notice and EPIC's reponse are  available at cpsr.org 
/cpsr/privacy/epic/. The article below ran on the Knight Ridder newswire 
and appeared in at least 20 newspapers. We got a call late tonight from 
the IRS saying there were yanking the proposal.

Dave



On Fri, 20 Jan 1995 xpat@vm1.spcs.umn.edu wrote:

> Excerpts from : St Paul Pioneer Press, Jan 29, 1995
> 
> "IRS plans to collect more data on individuals to nab tax cheats"
> 
> a "vast expansion of secret computer database of information it
> keeps on virtually all Americans" will include "credit reports,
> news stories, tips from informants,  and real estate, motor vehicle
> and child support records, plus conventional Govt financial data"
> 
> "Any individual who has business and/or financial activities can
> expect upgraded agency reports to be put to IRS auditors promptly"
> 
> Here's the kicker: "Although agency officials concede that some of
> the data collected will be inaccurate, taxpayers will not be allowed
> to review or correct it"                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> So much for the FOIA.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> P M Dierking |
>