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Something is wrong with the wording here. Thieves stole the tax info of 100,000 but they stole it from the IRS. Make no mistake: IRS needs to be held responsib

Something is wrong with the wording here. Thieves stole the tax info of 100,000 but they stole it from the IRS. Make no mistake: IRS needs to be held responsible for this. It is their fault.

ceejayoz 11y ago
Why is it necessarily their fault? I'd suspect the information needed to access the tax returns was obtained via phishing or a data breach elsewhere like a tax preparation service.
- Estragon 11y ago
  It's their fault because the information needed is widely available.
  - ceejayoz 11y ago
    It's the fault of Congress that they need that information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986
    - jfuhrman 11y ago
      It's the people's fault because they elected the Congress.
sliverstorm 11y ago
Yes! Clearly the only appropriate action is to cut their budget another 20%. Maybe then they'll learn their lesson and fix the problem! The budget cuts will continue until security improves!
paulhauggis 11y ago
So when the victim is someone you don't like, it's somehow their fault?? The fault should be with the person/people that stole the tax information, not the IRS. Blaming the IRS would be like blaming a home owner for not installing a good enough security system when they get robbed instead of the criminals.
- click170 11y ago
  Perhaps, but what I can blame them for is for having very poor monitoring (50% failure rate and nobody noticed??) and poor security, culminating in this data breach. People need to be held accountable for the security of their systems when they are storing personally identifiable information on customers or the public at large. Edit: Perhaps they shouldn't be blamed when someone leverages a zero-day to break in, but if this is due to their failure to patch their systems, IMO their 100% liable for everything that follows.
  - ceejayoz 11y ago
    50% failure rate is probably pretty normal for a form asking for SSN, name, address, and birth date - I fail my bank's security questions at least 1/3 of the time because things like "Anywhere Street" and "Anywhere St" are not the same.
- apostate 11y ago
  Since the IRS has custody of other people's sensitive data, they should be held to a different standard than the carefree homeowner in your example. If I pay my bank for a safe deposit box, good security is part of what I am paying for. If it can be shown that they were lax/careless/negligent in the event of a theft, then I certainly would lay blame with both the bank and the thief for loss of my assets. This is even more the case for a government with vast resources.
- ptaipale 11y ago
  Shouldn't that work with companies as well, not just IRS? Take for example some large corporations. I.e. if Amazon or Google stores their customer information carelessly, and someone steals it - then Amazon would be victim, and if you say that they should have protected the information, you are blaming the victim because you don't like them? The American revenue service has even larger resources and also a larger responsibility than even the largest of multinational corporations. They should be held accountable for what they do (like the tax officials in any country).
  - 11y ago

Something is wrong with the wording here. Thieves stole the tax info of 100,000 but they stole it from the IRS. Make no mistake: IRS needs to be held responsible for this. It is their fault.

ceejayoz 11y ago

Why is it necessarily their fault? I'd suspect the information needed to access the tax returns was obtained via phishing or a data breach elsewhere like a tax preparation service.

Estragon 11y ago
It's their fault because the information needed is widely available.
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  It's the fault of Congress that they need that information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986
  - jfuhrman 11y ago
    It's the people's fault because they elected the Congress.

sliverstorm 11y ago

Yes! Clearly the only appropriate action is to cut their budget another 20%. Maybe then they'll learn their lesson and fix the problem! The budget cuts will continue until security improves!

paulhauggis 11y ago

So when the victim is someone you don't like, it's somehow their fault?? The fault should be with the person/people that stole the tax information, not the IRS. Blaming the IRS would be like blaming a home owner for not installing a good enough security system when they get robbed instead of the criminals.

click170 11y ago
Perhaps, but what I can blame them for is for having very poor monitoring (50% failure rate and nobody noticed??) and poor security, culminating in this data breach. People need to be held accountable for the security of their systems when they are storing personally identifiable information on customers or the public at large. Edit: Perhaps they shouldn't be blamed when someone leverages a zero-day to break in, but if this is due to their failure to patch their systems, IMO their 100% liable for everything that follows.
- ceejayoz 11y ago
  50% failure rate is probably pretty normal for a form asking for SSN, name, address, and birth date - I fail my bank's security questions at least 1/3 of the time because things like "Anywhere Street" and "Anywhere St" are not the same.
apostate 11y ago
Since the IRS has custody of other people's sensitive data, they should be held to a different standard than the carefree homeowner in your example. If I pay my bank for a safe deposit box, good security is part of what I am paying for. If it can be shown that they were lax/careless/negligent in the event of a theft, then I certainly would lay blame with both the bank and the thief for loss of my assets. This is even more the case for a government with vast resources.
ptaipale 11y ago
Shouldn't that work with companies as well, not just IRS? Take for example some large corporations. I.e. if Amazon or Google stores their customer information carelessly, and someone steals it - then Amazon would be victim, and if you say that they should have protected the information, you are blaming the victim because you don't like them? The American revenue service has even larger resources and also a larger responsibility than even the largest of multinational corporations. They should be held accountable for what they do (like the tax officials in any country).
- 11y ago