Tax Workers snooping on ex spouses family members,by using Government Computers

[VanIsle]

OTTAWA - Dozens of workers at Canada's tax agency have been caught snooping on their ex-spouses, mothers-in-law, creditors and others by reading confidential tax files.
Internal reports at the Canada Revenue Agency show that rogue employees are improperly reviewing the private financial affairs of taxpayers without their knowledge.
And some are using agency computers to give favoured treatment to colleagues, friends, family — and themselves.
In one egregious breach last October, a woman accessed 37,500 emails and 776 documents containing confidential financial information about ordinary Canadians. She downloaded the files onto 17 compact discs for her personal use, inexplicably helped by agency technicians.
Documents outlining the forbidden invasions into private tax data were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
In one case, a worker secretly operated a business on the side with her spouse, and between 2004 and 2009 "accessed the accounts of two creditors and the spouse of one …

Read full story>

I guess they screen the workers well before they hire them!!!! Not much privacy left is there?

 

[VanIsle]

Don't any of you care that there is a possibility that your confidential information might be placed on a disk or be being examined by someone you know or don't know? I have nothing out there that could be used against me for any purpose. I do have some concerns regarding employment places of some members of my family and what some people may want to do with that information. Mild concerns for me but they could be serious concerns for other citizens of Canada. This is not a BC story. It's Canada wide and CRS doesn't really feel too concerned about what has occurred to the point that they are not dismissing the "long term" employees caught up in all this. My opinion is that they should all be dismissed.

 

[Johnnny]

im not 100% worried, all they would find out is that i pay too much taxes like everyone else. and i have a terrible habit of renting cars

 

[lone wolf]

What they did was wrong and they should pay the price for invasion of privacy. Where do we draw the line though? That's how welfare cheaters and tax frauds get discovered too - but I suppose they have legit forensic people to do that....

 

[AnnaG]

What they did was wrong and they should pay the price for invasion of privacy. Where do we draw the line though? That's how welfare cheaters and tax frauds get discovered too - but I suppose they have legit forensic people to do that....

.... not to mention the time-theft:

Stealing time at work | The Uniter: Winnipeg’s Weekly Urban Journal

As for privacy, I don't care if someone knows if I go to the doc a couple times a year and what my last pee sample results were, or whether I spent $1.25 or $3.70 on a cup of coffee, etc. as long as we're the only ones dipping into our bank accounts and using our personal ID.

 

[VanIsle]

.... not to mention the time-theft:

Stealing time at work | The Uniter: Winnipeg’s Weekly Urban Journal

As for privacy, I don't care if someone knows if I go to the doc a couple times a year and what my last pee sample results were, or whether I spent $1.25 or $3.70 on a cup of coffee, etc. as long as we're the only ones dipping into our bank accounts and using our personal ID.

But what about the CRS worker who stored so much info on a ton of disks? They can sell you SIN, possibly your bank account number if you e-file and pay your bill that way.

 

[JLM]

Don't any of you care that there is a possibility that your confidential information might be placed on a disk or be being examined by someone you know or don't know? I have nothing out there that could be used against me for any purpose. I do have some concerns regarding employment places of some members of my family and what some people may want to do with that information. Mild concerns for me but they could be serious concerns for other citizens of Canada. This is not a BC story. It's Canada wide and CRS doesn't really feel too concerned about what has occurred to the point that they are not dismissing the "long term" employees caught up in all this. My opinion is that they should all be dismissed.

VanIsle - there is nothing about me that can possibly do anyone else any good, I've even lost teeth that had gold in them at one time. My bank accounts aren't worth stealing from, I suppose they might find out what my cholesterol count was on a test I had last fall. No, just ain't going to worry myself sick over it. :lol::lol:

 

[Outta here]

Are people really surprised by this? I think it's probably much more common that any of us realize to have employees at all kinds of public services accessing records for their own interests. There are of course, policies that are pretty clear about acceptable access and use of records, but it's pretty difficult to enforce consistently.

 

[petros]

I could care less what the government knows about me. What really really really pisses me off is that if the government wants to learn even more about you they have to buy it off private corporations that know what type of pit stick you buy or what medications you buy both prescribed or OTC.

They know everything there is to know about someone to the point that advertising on radio/TV/web can and is being customized to the individual.

Now that is scary.

 

[Ron in Regina]

Are people really surprised by this? I think it's probably much more common that any of us realize to have employees at all kinds of public services accessing records for their own interests. There are of course, policies that are pretty clear about acceptable access and use of records, but it's pretty difficult to enforce consistently.

I agree. Folks wouldn't do this if they thought the odds of getting caught
where more than sleight at best. You'd think that someone in a Goverment
job would be automatically fired for something like this, but......seems not.

From: Province ponders revealing privacy breaches after leak to Teamsters union

Morgan said the government has tried to instill in employees the importance of
protecting personal information since the province's privacy commissioner called
the 2008-09 fiscal year "the year of the privacy breach" last summer.

Dickson said recently that a disclosure system for privacy breaches would be
useful, especially considering the significant increase in the number of incidents
seen in his office.

"People say, 'Well, is this an isolated incident or is it more widespread?' And
you've probably heard me say, 'I don't know exactly how widespread it is' . . .
there's really a lack of data showing how often it happens," he said in an interview.

 

[taxslave]

I'm sure their union will protect these employees. Most federal government jobs are handed out on the basis of where your ethnic profile fits in with the general population. Somehow having all identifiable groups having the right percentage of government jobs is more important than merit. Of course the very same government has laws against private companies using discriminatory hiring policies.

 

[VanIsle]

Taxslave you are so very right.

 

[Liberalman]

Privacy information is a pipe dream that existed in the old day before computers but now every time you fill out an application it ends up on the Internet or on a list.

Every time when you fill out an employment application or send a resume those companies sell that information of unsuccessful people to marketing companies.

Don’t forget your credit card applications and so on and even if they have a privacy policy it is hard to prove.

Consumer lists costs $25.00 up to $200.00 per thousand depending on how recent and specific the list is.

A marketing company needs all that information to see if you qualify for their products or services.

Every time when you surf the internet cookies are secretly put on your computer so when you go to a specific web site more than once you are presented with different advertising so it won’t be as boring.

If you want to protect your identity pay cash for everything and don’t fill out anymore forms.
.
.

 

[hiyatran]

It is good these people got caught because now maybe Revenue Canada we care a little more about our privacy.

It is funny, if we are to owe money to Revenue Canada then they come after us with torches and shovels but if they did something like this then they will get a little slap on the wrist. Don't we just love government politics??