Snooping your records

The IRS has encountered an increasing problem of workers snooping on confidential taxpayer files.

By law, it's illegal for an IRS employee to look into tax records unless they have a business reason for looking at the records.

Here's a excerpt from a piece in the WSJ

Despite repeated warnings by IRS officials over many years, IRS employees still are getting nabbed for snooping through confidential taxpayer records without authorization. In some cases, IRS workers were curious about an ex-spouse or neighbor, but in at least one case, an employee was paid by an outsider for information that was used by identity thieves. According to interviews with Treasury officials and a new report, hundreds of IRS workers were disciplined in the year ended Sept. 30 for breaking the rules, and some have even faced prosecution.

Just imagine your medical records being house in some government building somewhere... Do you like the prospects of person keeping their sticky fingers off of your confidential files.