So, you thought your email was a private communication? Think again. Not only can, and do, private individuals and companies read it, but apparently your government believes the US Constitution doesn't apply. Well, the IRS is the one we know about, who knows what other 3-letter agencies are doing this too.
In an article today on MarketWatch reported "the Internal Revenue Service believes it doesn’t need a warrant to search through taxpayers’ emails, according to the American Civil Liberties Union." It went on to say the agency doesn't believe it needs a warrant to read your Facebook page nor your Twitter feed.
The lesson is you should be careful, very careful, about what you say in electronic communications. Especially as it pertains to you income, your purchases, your trips and vacations, anything that might lead an IRS agent to extrapolate your income based on your spending.
When Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg said privacy is dead many panned the comment, a few questioned it, most simply ignored what he had to say. But this, the IRS and your government reading your emails and private postings without a court order, is the face of Mark Zuckerberg's world.
We who are on Facebook, Twitter and all other social media as well as email users are willing participants in this charade called privacy and the 4th Amendment.
Reported by FoxNews the IRS 2009 employee handbook, the updated 2010 version reiterates, "the Fourth Amendment does not protect emails because Internet users don’t 'have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications.'"
As Charles Krauthammer commented:
"the law as it stands allows them to do anything. So, perhaps targeting has a specific meaning. It should be banned from looking at anybody’s email in the absence of a court order.”
Let's be clear. Most people don't understand that your right to privacy, that is protection against "unreasonable search and seizures" as guaranteed by the 4th Amendment, applies only to government access. It does not apply to access by private business or individuals. Those rights to privacy are assumed or provided by legislation independent of the US Constitution.
The right to privacy as it relates to private business and individuals accessing your information can be rescinded by law. Your 4th Amendment rights against unlawful government intrusion cannot be denied you without violating the Constitution. So the idea that a federal agency believes it is above the US Constitution should make all of us very worried. This could be only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
So, again, be careful, be very careful.
Update: The IRS denies the target email though their employee handbook says it's allowed.
The right to privacy as it relates to private business and individuals accessing your information can be rescinded by law. Your 4th Amendment rights against unlawful government intrusion cannot be denied you without violating the Constitution. So the idea that a federal agency believes it is above the US Constitution should make all of us very worried. This could be only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
So, again, be careful, be very careful.
Update: The IRS denies the target email though their employee handbook says it's allowed.
