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> It's this kind of writing that drives me crazy. IRS may be overreaching, or they may not be; who knows? Yes, that's the point. Breathless speculation is obno
by pash 13y ago
> It's this kind of writing that drives me crazy. IRS may be overreaching, or they may not be; who knows?
Yes, that's the point. Breathless speculation is obnoxious, but that's all we're left with when our government hides its activities from us.
- tptacek 13y agoNobody needed to speculate about what the IRS manual said; it was right there for them to read.
- pash 13y agoYes, the article makes clear that the EFF acquired the manual via a FOIA request and that (like all such documents) the manual is now public. We know what's in the manual (guidelines for IRS employees on how to conduct themselves online). What we don't know—what the article speculates about—is what's in the IRS's databases, how those databases are populated, and the extent of the IRS's claimed powers in audits generally. As with the NSA's secret surveillance program, we're left guessing what's under the IRS's gaze and what oversight, if any, ensures that its scrutiny is circumscribed to what's appropriate in a free society.