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The Taxman's Web Spider Cometh
Juha-Matti Laurio writes "A five-nation tax enforcement cartel has been quietly cracking down on suspected Internet tax cheats, using a sophisticated Web-crawling program to monitor transactions on auction sites and to track operators of online shops, poker, and porn sites. Austria, Denmark, Great Britain, and Canada have joined The Netherlands in pursuing the 'Xenon' program with the assistance of an Amsterdam-based data mining company. Wired News reports that the Web crawler uses so-called 'slow search' to avoid creating excessive traffic on a site or drawing attention in the sites' server logs." The article notes that the US IRS will neither confirm nor deny using similar technology.
I for one welcome our new octopedic taxiverous overlords
I guess this is further evidence that there are two things one cannot escape - death and taxes.
Yeah, but death only comes for you once.
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Woah, I just saw a big spider walk by, read your post, make some marks in a notebook, and then walk away! Freaky!
Yeah, but death only comes for you once.
Well can you tell him that? I don't mind the company, per se, when spends some time sitting at the foot of my bed, but I could do without the anticipatory gleam in his eye. It's very disconcerting.
I think he's hoping that a bit of insomnia might just push me over the edge.
KFG
That's not what I'm talking about. My point is that I'll declare what's required. I won't try to hide anything. He thinks he's getting away with something, and that it's ok because it's "just a little". So you're kind of off base here. And my second cousin-twice removed, who works at the DMV in Kansas City and has a neighbor whose mother-in-law works in the Pentagon says I'm NOT stupid!
What?
Yeah, but after taxes death is just a tired feeling...
Killing ten people is as bad as killing a million.
What about cutting them off in traffic? Is that as bad as killing them? That's what this is.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
> Is the IRS going to spend $300 on an auditor to collect $30 of taxes? Think about it.
This is the government we're talking about...
I avoid the whole taxing problem by simply not making any money...
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This sounds like it is, or would be, a step backward for the IRS. Computer programs are not as singleminded or unyielding as IRS agents.
Not if your name is Rincewind
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