Government Database: “The IRS Mistakenly Exposed Thousands of Social Security Numbers” + Coverage Roundup

From the National Journal:

The incident involves the unwitting exposure of “tens of thousands” of Social Security numbers, according to a recent audit by the independent transparency and public-domain group Public.Resource.org. The identifying numbers were on the Internet for less than 24 hours after being discovered, but the damage was done. And unfortunately, the data-breach concerns some of the most sensitive types of transactions: Those made by nonprofit political groups known as 527s.

Every so often, 527s have to file tax forms to the IRS, which then get added to a database. The database itself is hardly a secret; the IRS has been sending updated records routinely to Public.Resource.org and other public-interest groups, and it’s a favorite among political reporters. But when the IRS told the group’s founder, Carl Malamud, to disregard the Form 990-Ts included in the agency’s January release, he took a closer look at the files in question.

Read the Complete National Journal Article

Direct to IRS Database In Question
“Temporarily Unavailable” as of 7/8/2013

See Also: Statement of Public.Resource.Org

See Also: Letter from Public.Resource.Org to IRS
Dated July 2, 2013

Additional Coverage

• IRS database of nonprofits is filled with unredacted SSNs (via BoingBoing)

• Fail: IRS publishes social security numbers to public database (via VentureBeat)

• More Fodder for IRS Haters: Thousands of Social Security Numbers Exposed (via The Atlantic)

• IRS Slip-Up Exposes Thousands of Social Security Numbers (via U.S. News & World Report)

• Transparency advocate: IRS disclosed thousands of Social Security numbers (via The Hill)