Sens. Wyden, Warren Want IG Probe of IRS’ Location Tracking Service
The inspector general should investigate the Internal Revenue Service's “use of a commercial location tracking service without a court order,” said Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Thursday. IRS officials told Senate staff the agency used a commercial…
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surveillance database provided by Venntel to “search for information about Americans’ phones without a court order and had received approval to do so from the agency's lawyers,” Wyden said. The IRS allegedly subscribed to the service in 2017 and 2018 but failed to respond to several Senate requests for legal justification. IRS Criminal Investigation used the tool on a limited basis for a year in an effort to “identify unknown suspects through cross-referencing data points of identified criminal activity locations and times,” a spokesperson emailed. “CI only deployed this tool in significant money laundering, cyber, drug and organized crime cases.” After one year, IRS discontinued the tool because it didn’t benefit investigations, the agency said: “CI takes the privacy of citizens very seriously” and follows all relevant laws.