UPDATE: The IRS Reads Your Email

Some quick afternoon links.  Video is below.

UPDATE: IRS Denies Reading Private Emails to Target Americans

ACLU - New Documents Suggest IRS Reads Emails Without a Warrant

Royal Bank of Scotland VP arrested in Moscow on $10 million fraud charge

German Man Caught Trying To Sneak Half-Ton Of Gold & Silver Out Of Greece

Portugal’s elder statesman calls for 'Argentine-style' default, exit from Euro

Hijacking a plane: There's an app for that - NYPOST.com

Sheila Bair: Too Big To Fail May Be Over - Taxpayers Could Be Off The Hook

Big banks 'more dangerous than ever', IMF's Christine Lagarde says - Telegraph

MF Global Trustee Wins More Cash From JPMorgan Settlement - Forbes

Obama to collect all-time record $2.7 Billion in taxes in 2013

Cyprus forced to find extra $10 billion for bailout, leaked analysis shows

Judge Orders Pink Slime Silence to Protect Food Company (Infuriating...)

6 ways to avoid an IRS audit - MarketWatch

PC sales plunge dramatically as Windows 8 flops

Inside Apple's Plans for Its Futuristic, $5 Billion Headquarters - Businessweek

IRS Email Snooping Without Warrants: Stay Out Of Our Stuff!

The day after federal taxes are due, the Internal Revenue Service is denying claims that it wants to snoop on taxpayers by reading their emails and monitoring other forms of electronic communication without a warrant.

“Respecting taxpayer rights and taxpayer privacy are cornerstone principles for the IRS,” the agency said in a statement. “Our job is to administer the nation’s tax laws, and we do so in a way that follows the law and treats taxpayers with respect.”  It continued: “Contrary to some suggestions, the IRS does not use emails to target taxpayers. Any suggestion to the contrary is wrong."

The statement comes after the American Civil Liberties Union said this week that internal documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that agents were told they didn’t need a warrant to root through emails, texts or Facebook pages of people it is investigating.  The ACLU and other privacy groups disagreed with that rationale and say by bypassing warrants, the Tax Man is violating the Fourth Amendment.  

According to a 2009 IRS employee handbook, the tax agency says the Fourth Amendment does not protect emails because Internet users don’t “have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications.”

A lawyer for the agency reiterated the policy in 2010. And despite the IRS' latest statement, the current online version of the IRS manual says that no warrant is required for emails that are stored by an Internet storage provider for more than 180 days.

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A Profound Violation Of Natural Rights

Judge Napolitano on IRS reading emails.

Comments

[DailyBail]

Obama's DHS ignores security breaches at biochemical laboratories

http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-s-dhs-ignores-security-breaches-at-biochemical-laboratories

[DailyBail]

Larry Ellison, Highest Paid CEO of 2012

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/larry-ellison-highest-paid-ceo-of-2012-2013-04-08

[DailyBail]

Five more explosive devices found in Boston: WSJ

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/five-more-explosive-devices-found-in-boston-wsj-2013-04-15

Haven't heard this anywhere else.

[DailyBail]

A federal judge takes on 'copyright trolls'

Prenda Law Inc. made a business out of extracting settlements from people who had downloaded porn movies. Now it's in legal hot water.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130410,0,1163340.column

[DailyBail]

China Takes Another Stab At The Dollar, Launches Currency Swap Line With France

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/13/us-china-france-currency-idUSBRE93C01S20130413

[DailyBail]

Florida battles slimy invasion by giant snails as big as rats

And they eat concrete

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/14/us-usa-florida-snails-idUSBRE93D05620130414

Check out the photo

[DailyBail]

New York Least Free State, North Dakota The Most, Study Finds

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/28/new-york-least-free-state_n_2972080.html

[DailyBail]

Think you've read the worst about foreclosures? Read this

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/21/104082/think-youve-read-the-worst-about.html

[DailyBail]

North Korea gave USA valuable information without knowing

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/04/15/exclusive-u-s-recovered-north-korean-rocket-head.html

[DailyBail]

Obama advisers say they will urge president to veto CISPA

Would be a great development

http://rt.com/usa/president-veto-bill-cispa-975/

If CISPA is passed, private businesses will be encouraged to share personal user data with federal investigators in order to allegedly combat sophisticated cyberattacks waged at the United States’ critical infrastructure. Critics of CISPA say the bill opens the door for widespread snooping, though, and would erode what privacy still exists in America today on the Web.