The Tax Man Versus Mean Old Me in Twitter Round Two

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/privacy-facebook-cra-surveillance-1.3950796

 277 Comments
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CBC was doing so well until I talked of their buddies in the CRA, my SIN, Zucky Baby's FaceBook, the Yankees proud of the 2nd Amendment and gun ownership rights in Canada

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos
Oh My My

http://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates/signatures-nominee-directors-panama-papers-1.3951784

Methinks these ladies should talk to mean old me about the CRA, the IRS and KPMG

http://qslspolitics.blogspot.ca/2008/06/5-years-waiting-on-bank-fraud-payout.html

Jay Mann

If you don't want to get caught cheating on your taxes, don't post the evidence online, especially if you don't understand privacy settings.

David Raymond Amos

@Jay Mann True However I certainly do take issue with this statement. I must ask does this lawyer even understand the CHARTER???

"Lawyer Scott Chamberlain, chairman of Canadians for Tax Fairness, says privacy concerns should not impede the Canada Revenue Agency's ability to do its job."

David Raymond Amos
@Jay Mann

Methinks if the lawyer Chantal Bernier the former interim commissioner and former assistant privacy commissioner is truly concerned and wishes an education about the Tax Man and lawyers without invading anyone's privacy then she should answer my email and give me a call.

Failing that all Bernier has to do is ask is one of her former privacy associates the lawyer Manon Hardy her answer to me about all the documents I sent to the Acting Commissioner of Public Sector Integrity in 2007 when she was overseen by the Treasury Board.

Better yet perhaps Bernier should ask her current law firm partners for all of my emails I sent them since 2014. Trust that many fellow Canadians and Yankees can Google three names in order to see enough to wet their whistle and blow it on the CRA and the IRS.

Those names are

David Raymond Amos, Jean.Chretien and Dentons

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos Another lawyer speaks about Blackstock's privacy rights and FaceBook???

HMMM What about our bank account records and the rights of all taxpayers with duel citizenship or permanent resident status? I must ask does anyone remember FATCA? Trust that I have been reminding Trump and Trudeau about it a lot lately

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David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos Lets try again and see if you block it now

@Joe Cluster The Liebranos election act long ago denied me my right to vote for many years ago. (Trudeau just changed that recently) Furthermore the CRA killed my SIN before that and I had to to raise a lot of hell to get just some of the CPP due to me and that in MY MONEY.

However I sleep very well knowing that I am not compelled to pay Income Tax because the evil CRA people killed my SIN

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos WOW

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David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos Now that CBC has begun to block my comments I must ask the obvious question. Are you sneaky people who are over paid by my sales tax dollars gonna keep the comment section open for an extra day just like you did not to long ago so that your favourite Trolls can bury my comments?

Joe Cluster

Pay your share, sleep well, don't play games with them. I pay my taxes even though I know it's wasted sometimes but its like voting if one doesn't, one doesn't get to complain.

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David Raymond Amos

@Joe Cluster The Liebranos election act long ago denied me my right to vote for many years ago. (Trudeau just changed that recently) Furthermore the CRA killed my SIN before that and I had to to raise a lot of hell to get just some of the CPP due to me and that in MY MONEY.

However I sleep very well knowing that I am not compelled to pay Income Tax because the evil CRA people killed my SIN

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos "Content disabled" ??? WOW

The CBC just blocked the most important comment about the CRA.

Its rather amazing that CBC would act so unethically just before the comment section closes

 

Jim O' Neill

@Allan Gordon
When the big Globalist ringleaders like soros and Kissinger finally kick the bucket, who do you think is going to take their place? Answer- guys like Mark Zuckerberg.

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David Raymond Amos

@Jim O' Neill Nah Zuckerberg is far too dumb. Never forget that Zucky Baby stole the FaceBook idea from his buddies in Harvard and that it was a bunch of other kids who worked hard helping him make it what it is now.

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos Oh My perhaps the CBC boss Hubby Lacroix should check my blog my email ASAP EH?

Rick James I'm all for privacy rights, but I see nothing wrong with the government gathering data on social media for monitoring and auditing possible criminal activity. It's just that the lines get gray on who can use what data for what, and it leaves a lot of complications and loopholes if you're going to try and get a conviction.

What blows my mind is the random shootings and the person who commits the act posts pictures of themselves with guns on Facebook, or makes general threats....you'd think there'd be a red flag for that. "Hey, that kid who recently liked an extremist webpage just posted a picture of himself holding an AK, maybe we should look into that". Then again, they'd have to create a very large department to look into Americans that post pictures of themselves with guns on the internet

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David Raymond Amos

@Rick James In Canada it is still legal to own certain military long guns such as the M14 etc In the USA it is legal to own Communist long guns such as an AK etc. So why can't the Yankees brag that they are proud of their Second Amendment Rights?



Arved Sandstrom

@Jonathan Lucas - main reason for being careful of what you say on social media (including comments on CBC) is not the government, it's employers. I suspect you know that.

David Raymond Amos

@Arved Sandstrom The CRA and the IRS and their cohorts know I hate FaceBook but check me out on Twitter

My life is an open book I practice the spirit of full disclosure all day long

Arved Sandstrom @Tim Olan - "If you don't want you information to be viewed, then why are you putting out there and making it available?"

Usual rule, you trust your immediate family and relatives, and a few close friends. Even then you probably don't tell your Mom that you dumped a body and the weapons in a ravine down off Highway 246.

Absolutely everyone else, as friendly as they are in social and workplace settings, ration your personal information. If you don't want the world to know about it, don't tell a coworker you are friendly with, for example.

The same goes for social media. Quite apart from privacy settings, if you have more than half a dozen carefully chosen people on your FB page (like your mother, father, uncle, two aunts and your godmother) assume that some people you have "friended" actually really aren't your friends, and they will happily pass on your "secrets". Just human nature. I think a legal case could be made that a reasoning adult should know that, if it came to a criminal matter.

"Public" doesn't mean just writing a letter to the editor, or taking out a paid ad. It means disclosing information in such a way that an adult should reasonably believe that such disclosure will result in general knowledge. Disclosure on most FB pages qualifies for that - you know that the general community will soon know what you posted.

David Raymond Amos

@Arved Sandstrom I concur Perhaps we should confer?

Arved Sandstrom

@JOHN SMITH - really? CBC knows that maybe 10 percent of the commenters are using real names, they have no idea where people live, and an email address is relatively meaningless.

David Raymond Amos

@Arved Sandstrom I am for real Trust that CBC knows exactly who I am where I live and my email address even though they rarely admit it. Here a great example of that fact.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

Arved Sandstrom

@David Raymond Amos - some of us do actually use our real names, yes. It's a minority.

David Raymond Amos

@Arved Sandstrom There are no degrees of honesty

Arved Sandstrom @Gerry Manley - I agree. Social media by definition is not personal at all. I value privacy myself, and that's why I never use Facebook for example, or any social media at all. I don't agree one whit that just because it's on your FB page that it's "private". It's personal, because it's your own information, but it surely is not private if any shlub can see it on FB.

On another note, this is odd:

"Jean-Luc Ferland, spokesman for Treasury Board President Scott Brison, says the government is conducting a review of Canada's Privacy Act. Once that review is finished Treasury Board will consider guidelines."

Really? The Privacy Act has been around since 1983, with not so many changes along the way. Federal and provincial government departments are loaded with people who understand the Privacy Act in detail. *UNTIL* a review is complete, to perhaps update the act, it is not difficult for the Treasury Board to find internal employees to tell it what it can, or cannot, do.

David Raymond Amos

@Arved Sandstrom More Importantly Treasury Board President Scott Brison oversees the Commission on Public Sector Integrity and Brison knows I got a signed answer from their lawyer in 2007 and now she works for the Privacy commissioner . Go Figure.

Arved Sandstrom

@David Raymond Amos - "@Lynn Charman I agree with your thoughts on Facebook However it does have privacy settings that the CRA should NOT invade."

I believe that is clear from the post. I didn't get the impression that the CRA investigators were seeing stuff that I wouldn't see, or tens of millions of other people wouldn't see. Too tough too bad if you didn't have good privacy settings - if anyone can see it, I have no problems with CRA people checking it out.

I doubt that CRA has the clout to convince Facebook to allow government investigations that bypass privacy. Zuckerberg himself could buy the CRA and then close it down. So I think that CRA investigations probably rely on stuff that anyone can see or read, as far as social media goes

David Raymond Amos 

@Arved Sandstrom You do understand that the kid Zuckerberg merely controls a publicly held company and that its has a code of ethics to uphold. How about the fact that I am a fairly well known whistleblower against the SEC the IRS, CRA, the RCMP and the FBI etc about financial crimes etc.

Trust that I have argued many lawyers in the USA including many from Harvard long before FaceBook ever existed and a very long time Zuckerberg made a big score filing an IPO. How do you or Zuckerberg know whether or not I am a stakeholder with an interest in FaceBook?

Robert Loblaw

What's good for the goose is good for the gander eh?

How would these folks including the behind the scenes bureaucrats like their lives pastebined?

David Raymond Amos

@Robert Loblaw
"good for the goose is good for the gander"

I said that too kinda sorta but CBC hasn't posted my comment yet. Go figure

Ben Smith

If it's public, go nuts. It's fair game.

David Raymond Amos

@Ben Smith True You must also agree that sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander

The blog found within the link I offer below has been published publicly within the social media for nearly 9 nine years and not by me but by some of my political foes who support NDP etc. However the documents they offer and my grateful response are mine. So lets embarrass the Tax Man and fight fire with fire so to speak. Please enjoy.

http://qslspolitics.blogspot.ca/2008/06/5-years-waiting-on-bank-fraud-payout.html

Wes White

@Ben Smith

"If it's public, go nuts. It's fair game."

Question: If somebody took naked pictures of another person without their consent and posted it on Facebook would you still say "It's fair game."?

David Raymond Amos

@Wes White If was a picture of a Tax Man I would have to say YUP.

Paul Poor

@Wes White
You can have my picture , I'm old and wrinkled , pale white skin, my junk hangs down to my knees, how many pictures would you desire.

Curtis Harvey

@Paul Poor - I highly doubt it. If you are as old as you say people your age don't generally describe their sexual organs as '' junk.''
I believe that's a newer age phrase.

David Raymond Amos

@Curtis Harvey As an old mechanic Please allow me to inform you that if any old thing don't work anymore and it can't be fixed or its to expensive to be fixed then it is junk.

Get it kid?

Curtis Harvey

@David Raymond Amos - Just wondering...Did the NDP EVER pay the fine they received ''years'' ago for the $ million+ they were FALSELY funneling to their satellite offices?

David Raymond Amos
@Curtis Harvey In a word NO

Why do you think I ran against them all the other political parties 5 times?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cFOKT6TlSE

Curtis Harvey

@Charles A. Brown -'' ...whatever research tools are at hand...'' Withing the law of our country.
I just had to add that otherwise I agree with you.

David Raymond Amos
@Curtis Harvey Wanna argue law with mean old me or the Queen and all her lawyers?

http://cas-cdc-www02.cas-satj.gc.ca/IndexingQueries/infp_RE_i

Joe Cluster 

If you have 800 friends on Facebook well you are public property basically. Real true friends are usually counted on the hand(s). Anymore than that are just acquaintances 

David Allan

@Joe Cluster

Your personal experience isn't everyone's.

David Raymond Amos

@David Allan 

So do you have 800 friends you trust?

David Allan

@JOHN SMITH

The CBC is not a government website.

Federal government websites have the .gc domain.

David Raymond Amos 

@David Allan Well that depends on how you look at it.

CBC is a CROWN Corp funded by the Federal government. It was created by an Act of Parliament and has a non partisan mandate to uphold. It is an overseen the Prime Minister and his current Minister of Heritage Madame Joly.

All CBC top bosses and Commissioners etc are Federally appointed people including the lawyer Hubby Lacroix N'esy Pas Mr Prime Minister Trudeau "The Younger" ?

BTW "The Younger" label I attach to Trudeau was coined by CBC top journalist Peter Mansbridge, OC a long time ago. At least I give credit to where and when it is due.

 has generated a fake ideology for how many years?

David Stone

@Tyler Cheverie …Then again who funds the Fraser Institute and Ezra Levant? Does the surname Koch ring a bell? I find that sad but typical.

David Raymond Amos

@David Stone Methinks that to be fair to all you really should put the Koch brothers and George Soros in the same sentence. Everybody in the know knows that those evil Yankee fund the fake news propaganda spun by the left and right wing wingnuts in the MSM.

David Raymond Amos

@steve jackson I have been sending emails hard copy and arguing the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador in court since 2004 and publishing the truth about what I have been up to in blogs and Twitter etc at the same time.

Trust that the RNC are flat out terrified that the MSM may mention my name will they are busy covering up the killing of a decent man.

IanCampbell21 With probable cause and a warrant, investigators should go for it. Otherwise stay out! Also apply the same rules to all agents of the government (including police, etc.) so people know where they stand

David Raymond Amos

@IanCampbell21 Its hard to believe that I would agree with a Campbell after my Scottish forefathers told me to not trust them. However you just broke the mold.

Ted Nesbitt Part of me thinks if you're dumb it enough to "put it out there", then so be it....you are putting it out in the public domain, so it's not really "spying".....most everyone should be well aware of their "privacy settings" by now....

David Raymond Amos

@Ted Nesbitt True

David Raymond Amos

@Daimon Corston Methinks that would be wise unless you happen to work for the CRA's buddies in KPMG and wish to rub it in our faces.

 

Rory Norwood

@Scott Shari Actually cell traffic is digital and not easily intercepted. Maybe a cordless home phone...

David Raymond Amos

@Rory Norwood Perhaps the CSE and the NSA should explain a thing or two to you

Rick Turpin

@Gerry Manley
An Example: A blogger writes about the environment disasters in northern Alberta due to the tar sands. Is the government going to use that information to close them down? Or to go after their personal income tax and audit them every year? Use it to deny them visas? Etc.

David Raymond Amos

@Rick Turpin FYI I have already blogged and Tweeted about this article. Do ya think the Feds noticed?

Lynn Charman

I don't have a problem with it. If anyone ever thought Facebook was private, they thought wrong. If you put it out there, people are going to use it.

David Raymond Amos

@Lynn Charman I agree with your thoughts on Facebook However it does have privacy settings that the CRA should NOT invade.

Greg Proudman

If the government is looking for information that you make available for public consumption then they should not need to get a search warrant. It increases costs for taxpayers and inconvenience for law enforcement.
It's like saying an officer needs a search warrant to read the newspaper.

David Raymond Amos

@Greg Proudman Have you ever heard of a thing called the Charter?

 

Grant Jonasson

@Hank Hanrattay Are you referring to Harper's Bill C-51? It all started with Harper. Trudeau needs to do right and scrap that bill in its entirety.

David Raymond Amos

@Grant Jonasson Did you forget that Trudeau supported Bill C-51???

Mike Trout

To funny the C-51 loving Liberals do love keeping an eye on its "subjects"............a very close eye indeed.

David Raymond Amos

@Mike Trout Kinda Ironic N'esy Pas?

C Martyn Tyntof

The previous government actually collaborated against CRA!
"Harper government partnered with industry group fighting CRA over KPMG case
Minister championed 'collaboration' with CPA Canada as organization was battling tax investigators"
“The Harper government forged a partnership with a major Canadian accounting association, formalizing it as an adviser to the Canada Revenue Agency, at the same time as the group was fighting the CRA in court to shield the files of multimillionaires who had stashed money offshore.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/harper-government-partnered-with-industry-group-fighting-cra-over-kpmg-case-1.3257994

David Raymond Amos

@C Martyn Tyntof I second that emotion

Jim Wong

@Jason Baker is that employee still working for you.

 

David Raymond Amos

@Jim Wong Better yet are they still paying taxes or collecting welfare?

Jim Redmond

I have absolutely no problem with CRA monitoring social media. First of all, you have nothing to worry about if you haven't broken the law. Secondly, you shouldn't be wasting your time and brain cells on social media in the first place.

David Raymond Amos

@Jim Redmond Which brain cells are you referring to? The ones that control common sense or the conscience?

Tyler Cheverie

@JOHN MCTAGGART

Are you a Chinese agent?

David Raymond Amos

@Tyler Cheverie I am no Chinese agent. However I would like to know certain Chinese ladies better. Does that make me a bad guy?

vladimir pucel (Putin not allowed)

If its publicly available and allows for access, it is open-source information. Stupid is as stupid does, if one devulges any private or personal information on the social media.

David Raymond Amos

@vladimir pucel (Putin not allowed) Forest Gump is no doubt proud of your quote Why not give the credit when it is due?

Al Vossen

Go ahead, CRA, do your job and catch tax evaders.
Just make sure to also investigate every politician from every party.

David Raymond Amos

@Al Vossen Here Here Well said Sir.

Roland Godin

Laws and their objects on the essence of this issue are already in the books, however we need to to find elected that could deal with this from a legislative cognitive rational perspective...et voilà.

David Raymond Amos

@Roland Godin Dream on Such elected politicians do not exist. They join the club as soon as they swear the oath.

Jean Saint Amour

@Jim Masters Umm no.
In Canada, CSIS and CSEC has been spying on everyone no matter what they have or have not done.

David Raymond Amos

@Jean Saint Amour Oh So True

Allan Gordon

"Social media" is the Orwellian telescreen come to life, but we embrace it voluntarily. Why?

David Raymond Amos

@Allan Gordon The obvious answer is that we are fools.


 

Al Purves

I hate Facebook.

David Raymond Amos

@Al Purves Me too

Privacy experts call for rules on government monitoring social media

Revelation that CRA monitors social media for tax compliance puts focus on what is 'publicly available'

By Elizabeth Thompson, CBC News Posted: Jan 25, 2017 3:10 PM ET

Two of Canada's top privacy advocates are calling for new guidelines for government officials who access Canadians' posts on social media sites such as Facebook. (Matt Rourke/Associated Press)

Top privacy advocates are calling for rules to govern how government employees access Canadians' social media posts, following the revelation that the Canada Revenue Agency checks posts on social media sites like Facebook to catch tax cheats.

Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien and former assistant commissioner Chantal Bernier say the Treasury Board should draft guidelines.

"We understand the TBS is in the process of reviewing government policies and we would encourage them to consider this issue as part of that review," Tobi Cohen, spokeswoman for the commissioner's office, said in an email.

• CRA monitoring Facebook, Twitter posts of some Canadians

Cohen said government officials should only collect information if it directly relates to a government program.
"Departments and agencies should take care to ensure the accuracy of information that is collected. We would also encourage government institutions to be transparent and up front with Canadians when it comes to their data collection practices," Cohen wrote.

Meanwhile, she said Therrien is urging Canadians to be careful about their privacy settings and what they post.

Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien says the government should draft rules to govern government officials consulting the social media posts of Canadians. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Bernier, who now works as a lawyer with the firm Dentons, says it is "urgent" for the government to act.

"It has become a normal manner to gather intelligence. So we absolutely must give it a framework. We absolutely must clarify what the limits are."

Jean-Luc Ferland, spokesman for Treasury Board President Scott Brison, says the government is conducting a review of Canada's Privacy Act. Once that review is finished Treasury Board will consider guidelines.

"Our government will work with parliamentarians, stakeholders and interested Canadians to ensure we have strong and modern privacy rules that reflect Canadians' needs and expectations," he said, adding the Privacy Act has not been substantially changed since it went into effect in 1983.

However, he would not say whether the review will examine the practice of government officials accessing social media posts.

'Publicly available information' and privacy

CBC News reported last week that the Canada Revenue Agency's compliance section is scrutinizing the social media posts of Canadians it suspects are at "high risk" of cheating on their taxes. Among those the agency considers at high risk are wealthy individuals who have offshore bank accounts.

The agency defends the practice, saying it is simply using "publicly available information." However, privacy advocates point out that Canadians can often find that something they thought they were only sharing with their family and friends is publicly visible.

Bernier, who served as interim privacy commissioner and assistant privacy commissioner, says the CRA isn't the first government body to dig into Facebook posts.

In a 2013 report, the privacy commissioner's office found the Justice Department and the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada violated First Nations activist Cindy Blackstock's privacy by monitoring her personal Facebook page.

Former assistant privacy commissioner Chantal Bernier says it is "urgent" for the government to clear up the rules. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The privacy commissioner's office concluded that the fact the posts were publicly available did not trump Blackstock's privacy rights.

Bernier said the government needs to clarify three legal notions when it comes to federal officials accessing Canadians' social media posts:

• What is meant by publicly available information. When the Privacy Act was drafted, publicly available meant information that was directed at the public through things like books or pamphlets, she said.
• The act's requirement that information should be directly collected from individuals. "How does that impact departments' right — or not — to access open-source information?"
• What kind of scrutiny is considered directly related to the government's activities or programs.
•  

Catching tax cheats

"Because it is on your Facebook page, and even if you have 800 friends, you have not surrendered your right to privacy by putting that information on your Facebook page. It remains personal information, therefore it remains protected by the Privacy Act, which means the government cannot collect it unless it is directly related … to its operations, and it should be done with at least transparency."

Others, however, like Scott Chamberlain, chairman of Canadians for Tax Fairness, don't want to see privacy concerns prevent CRA from catching people tax cheats.

Lawyer Scott Chamberlain, chairman of Canadians for Tax Fairness, says privacy concerns should not impede the Canada Revenue Agency's ability to do its job. (Parliament of Canada)

"I'm not against looking at implementing rules about when people should be doing this, but I think it needs to be done in a context where there are professionals — academics, lawyers, government people — who understand the balance between privacy and CRA being able to do its job."

Chamberlain, a lawyer, said CRA has long used publicly available information to investigate tax fraud, such as taking pictures of a yacht or high-priced car that didn't match tax records parked in front of someone's home.
"If it's publicly available, CRA has always investigated. It's just that it's publicly available online now."
Elizabeth Thompson can be reached at elizabeth.thompson@cbc.ca