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ICE Appears to Be Buying Immigrants' Tax Identifiers from a Data Broker
- noman-land 4mo agoDoes anyone know where your average citizen can buy this data?
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- diebillionaires 4mo agoThis was covered in NOH's data broker article. But mostly Snowflake or AWS. https://nooneshappy.com/article/data-brokers-unregulated-forensic-analysis/ https://nooneshappy.com/article/data-brokers-unregulated-for...
- Simulacra 4mo agoSo much is available via the data brokers, for companies, governments, really anyone. Maybe this will lead to greater privacy across the board against these brokers.
- claaams 4mo agoIt's been like this for a long time and nothing has changed. In fact I would argue that consumer and citizen privacy has gotten much, much worse. It is extremely wishful thinking (in typical hackernews commenter fashion) that the "free" market will generate consumer protections.
- frankharv 4mo agoSurveillance Capitalism is an apt description. No one voted for it but here we are. Flock on every strategic corner.
- SilverElfin 4mo agoThe government should not be able to outsource things they cannot do themselves. This is a loophole in our laws.
- delichon 4mo agoThey shouldn't buy socks for the army, they should make the socks themselves?
- Brendinooo 4mo agoHas the army been restricted from making socks?
- pavel_lishin 4mo agoCan't buy the wool second-hand, gotta have government-owned sheep.
- Albatross9237 4mo agoThankfully, the pentagon should already have some sheep specs on hand
- throwway120385 4mo agoI believe that's covered under MIL-SPEC-M00-BAAA
- rlt 4mo agoI believe the original commenter meant "The government should not be able to outsource things they are not allowed to do themselves."
- nilamo 4mo agoBuying, making, and owning socks are not against the law in the usa, so socks are already compliant with the suggestion.
- fhdkweig 4mo agoCreating chilling effects of registering to pay taxes. What could possibly go wrong?
- guywithahat 4mo ago[flagged]
- fhdkweig 4mo agoThe article says they were already getting this information directly from the IRS until a court order shut it down. It is worthwhile to note that in the past the IRS stayed out of police investigations so that even if criminals were doing criminal things to make money, it didn't discourage them from paying taxes on it.
- guywithahat 4mo agoI would disagree with that premise, famously the FBI has used unpaid taxes to after a number of high profile criminals, most famously Al Capone but more frequently its gang members or fraud (like some of the Somali fraud cases in Minnesota). I believe they like to make your claim to encourage paying taxes, but practically they work together frequently. Crime shouldn't suddenly be ok if you pay taxes on it
- niam 4mo ago> practically they work together frequently Are the originators of these investigations the same? Might that matter? > Crime shouldn't suddenly be ok if you pay taxes on it Cool. Nobody is making that argument.
- SilasX 4mo agoI mean, this has long been a loophole in US law. Generally, you can't be compelled to testify against yourself (5th Amendment). But when it comes to taxes: 1) You have to declare all income, even from illegal activities. 2) The declarations can be used against you in court (IIUIC with the caveat that they need an independent reason to get a warrant for those tax records).
- eschulz 4mo agoWhat are some data erase service(s) that you guys recommend?
- kgwxd 4mo agoJust tell Siri "Erase all pictures of Ron!"
- frankharv 4mo agoSurely you are joking. Once collected why would a data broker want to purge your record? There is no escape.
- morkalork 4mo agoResidents of California have the right to opt out, no?
- runako 4mo agoIn theory, they also don't get spam calls.
- frankharv 4mo agoOpt out from snake oil salesmen. Yea sure. If it helps you sleep better. It is the law. In reality the data is already 'grey market' so I doubt the law matters to them. Disappear and new data broker sets up shop. You think these people are regulated? I bet they swap datasets like Pokemon.
- yabones 4mo agoWhile there might be some benefit, most of them are snakeoil. Effectively they're just sending polite emails to "people search" websites to remove you from search results. The real, very harmful, data brokers are background check systems (LexisNexis), credit bureaus (Equifax), and insurance industry registries, which there is effectively no way to opt-out short of faking your death.
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- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- fuckyah 4mo ago[dead]
- msie 4mo agoICE funding was boosted by billions of dollars. The supposed loss of jobs and services by illegal immigrants is easily surpassed by governmental waste.
- shevy-java 4mo agoICE reminds me of what I read about the 1930s era - but it is really stupid on top of that. So basically this then screams of a money machinery for a few. Taxpayers money goes into private pockets here, all under the disguise of "EVIL MIGRANTS".
- wat10000 4mo agoThe 1930s stuff was really stupid as well.
- dwa3592 4mo agoWhy is this data even being allowed to sell? Isn't this private data? Okay, i understand selling users data is pretty common here but i thought it was limited to "someone liking icecream or someone liking ford better than honda". but legally selling tax identifiers seems too much!
- frankharv 4mo agoIt should not be sold. But it is. https://epic.org/issues/consumer-privacy/data-brokers/ https://epic.org/issues/consumer-privacy/data-brokers/ Consumers are the product.
- MikePlacid 4mo agoCould not gisagree more. Nobody can harm me much by knowing my ITIN. But government surely can torture me in prison by depriving me of my favorite ice cream brand. I have a right to keep it private!
- Cider9986 4mo agoOur voting records and DMV records are also often sold by your state or even local city government.
- dkobia 4mo agoThe open secret here is that we have a system that collects billions (~$100 billion annually[1]) in unclaimable taxes while keeping the labor force just vulnerable enough to stay cheap. That said, ICE's actions seem like self sabotage. [1] https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/ https://itep.org/undocumented-immigrants-taxes-2024/
- Danox 4mo agoStereotype says Immigrants don't pay taxes?
- Cider9986 4mo agoThis is the bill that would stop this from happening, conveniently the rep who proposed it was voted out in the republican primary by a 10% margin, rip: https://www.surveillanceaccountability.com/ https://www.surveillanceaccountability.com/