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Belgian tax watchdogs spy with Facebook

Tax officers in Belgium are hanging out on Facebook as a way of spying on people. They’ve also admitted to eBay, where the link to revenue makes far more sense – but is this an effective use of time, and are the rules for governing personal snooping clear and transparent. On the surface it’s odd, invasive, potentially effective and possibly insane, but if social media are to be used like this then there have to be clearer policing guidelines in place. The latest news follows a week where British police monitoring Facebook embarrassed themselves by misreading a family birthday party with 15 people as a rave and sent in 3 riot vans and a helicopter, broadcasting from the helicopter to ‘turn the music off’ when there wasn’t any even playing. Isn’t wasting police time an offence in most countries?

More on Belgium tax officials on Facebook…
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/18/belgian-tax-watchdogs-tracking-facebook-netlog-updates/


July 22, 2009 |

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