(Ken Silva, Headline USA) After beefing up its staff by some 87,000 employees, the IRS is now in the market for some new high-tech internet monitoring equipment, according to Treasury Department procurement records.
The documents show that the IRS is seeking a bundle of internet and cybersecurity services that includes a subscription with Team Cymru, a cybersecurity company that provides its clients access to “netflow” data, which can show activity such as which server communicated with another. This would allow the IRS to monitor people who use VPNs or other privacy tools.
Vice’s tech publication, Motherboard, first covered the Treasury Department documents in a Tuesday article, noting that the FBI and Pentagon have also purchased netflow data from Team Cymru.
Indeed, Motherboard reported last September that “multiple branches of the U.S. military have bought access to a powerful internet monitoring tool that claims to cover over 90 percent of the world’s internet traffic, and which in some cases provides access to people’s email data, browsing history, and other information such as their sensitive internet cookies.”
Last month, Motherboard reported that the FBI’s cyber division uses Team Cymru—leading Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., to raise concern about the matter.
Wyden reportedly said the FBI’s use of Team Cymru “provides further evidence the FBI has purchased internet metadata, which can reveal the websites Americans visit, as well as sensitive information such as what doctor a person sees, their religion or what dating sites they use.”
It’s not clear how the IRS would use netflow data or other internet surveillance tools. The IRS and Team Cymru have both reportedly declined to comment.
However, the Biden administration has expressed a desire to make sure it can tax every penny from online transactions. Critics have warned that this could spell the end of financial privacy.
“Some may argue that privacy is unnecessary because you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide,” the Foundation for Economic Education noted last year after Biden announced plans to require financial institutions to report all transactions of $600 or more.
“But, again, individuals cannot be expected to perfectly comply with a document of unspecified length,” added FEE. “Unfortunately, as the government approaches perfect information, perfect compliance becomes the standard.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
