Case Study: Chapter 4

VIGNETTE “Privacy Concerns Abound With New IRS Systems”

Questions To Consider:

1.       What information about you is being held, who is holding it, and what is this information being used for?

Ans:   The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS. We help taxpayers who are experiencing economic harm, such as not being able to provide necessities like housing, transportation, or food; taxpayers who are seeking help in resolving problems with the IRS; and those who believe an IRS system or procedure is not working as it should.

Link: http://www.irs.gov/advocate/article/0,,id=212313,00.html

 

2.       What measures are being taken to safeguard this information, and what happens if it is inadvertently disclosed or deliberately stolen? 

Ans:   Sometimes a taxpayer will claim a dependent and the dependent also files claiming his or her own personal exemption. The computer systems that process tax returns screen for duplicate dependents. The second tax return filed that uses the same Social Security Number for a dependent will receive an electronic-filing error message indicating that the dependent has already been claimed on another return. This should act as an early warning signal. If the IRS rejects your tax return over a dependent, you should carefully review all the criteria for dependents. If you meet all the criteria for claiming a dependent on your return, then you should mail in your tax return to the IRS for further processing. Just be prepared to defend your tax return in an audit.

Link: http://taxes.about.com/od/dependents/qt/Dependents-Audits.htm

Case Study #4 (Is Google Watching You?)

Discussion Questions:

1.       How does Google’s business model use personal data?

Ans:  Google is firmly committed to the privacy of our advertisers and users. Further, Google does not collect or track personally identifying information, and does not reveal individual information to third parties. Users who do not wish to participate in tracking activities can easily disable Google's conversion tracking cookie in their Internet browsers.

2.       What do you are the major privacy concerns raised by Google’s business model and applications?

           Ans:  I think the major privacy concerns raised by Google's business model and an application is there technology was very open to the public and so others can sneak on it.

3.       Do you think Google has taken adequate measures to protect its user’s privacy? Explain

Ans:  For me, Google it is not really secured to protect the user’s privacy in handling our own or personal data because we all know that the database of Google will last forever.