Cross-posted from the
FATCA Discussion Thread (Ask your questions)
As Just Me commented,
That is a good synopsis for the Non Believer that American Citizenship is a problem to be dealt with. Putting your head in the sand gets much more difficult when confronted with this list.
I like how it summarizes into 4 categories..
By acts that re-establish US ties
By getting married, divorcing or dying
I think I drew attention to this piece somewhere on the website a few weeks ago. No matter. Good for everybody to be reminded.
A couple of personal thoughts:
1. Although the IRS could use these methods, I doubt that they will have the resources to do much of this kind. The point of FATCA is to put out a drift net that gathers everyone in, at which point individual cases can be sorted out.
2. That being said, I avoid consulting the IRS website, as they can easily trace IP addresses. If nothing else, information gleaned from such records could be evidence for willful non-compliance.
Who knows if I am right?
*This is utter bulls**t.
Appearing at a US airport with a non-US passport that reveals the bearer was born in the US is almost certain to set alarm bells clanging back at IRS headquarters in Washington. This is because even though they may have been full citizens of other countries for decades, Americans are not allowed to enter the US on anything but an American passport – as American-born London mayor Boris Johnson discovered (to his fury) in 2006. (Those who try, as the then-Spectator columnist discovered, will be barred by sharp-eyed border staff, who spot the place of birth in their foreign passports.)
As we know, virtually no one with a US birth place in a Canadian passport has been turned away. A few were trapped when they were told they ‘should’ get a US passport . (this advice is best ignored). There is no direct connection between a US airport and ‘IRS headquarters in Washington’ More scare tactics.
@Duke
Are you sure? I claim no special knowledge, but I have the understanding that under Homeland Security there is linkage between the IRS and Immigration services.
looks like the King of Thailand couldn’t return Barry’s respects
@NorthernShike..
I must have missed your posting of the “20 ways”, but then, I do miss a lot. It is hard to keep up with every comment Thanks for posting it. I tend to put things up on the FATCA question thread, http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/01/13/ask-your-questions-about-fatca-discussion-thread/ and look there for new material.
@Duke of Devon
I understand some of your skepticism, that some of the 20 ways, seems unlikely at the moment, but, let’s face some untarnished realities.
It will happen!
With the ever increasing use of BIG Data, and the exponential growth in data mining and connecting up of various government data bases, I do not doubt that the IRS and U.S. Government will catch up to Google in tracking my every move on the internet or through every security scan point or contact point with the government. It will be harder and harder to hide in an ever increasing connected world.
You can dismiss the one example as BS, but I am pretty sure it is happening now. As you know, there have been attempts in Congress to give the IRS veto power over passport issuance, so checking birth place at the border and questioning your Citizenship and tax status, is hardly a stretch in the not too distant future.
The information related to tax status and visa status is too alluring connection for the government resist. Control of movement is what government, with all our security fears, is all about. Combining everything they know about you, including tax compliance into a immigration screen is not an unreasonable likelihood.
People can ignore the ’20 ways’ at their risk, but I have no doubt, at some point in the future, all of those items will be possible and will indeed be used to find the recalcitrant.
Let’s not forget that the U.S. government is thirsty for information. It is building the largest data storage center in the world http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/ in
NevadaUtah. You have Congress panel approving ISP data retention for snoping purposes http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20084939-281/house-panel-approves-broadened-isp-snooping-bill/ . Then, you have stories like this on Yahoo. U.S. Terror Agency To Tap Citizen Files http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/u-terror-agency-tap-citizen-034700666.html . Back in 2002, the government tried to create a Total information Awareness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Office system, which was killed, and then morphed into what we see happening today.Finally, you add the world wide collection of FATCA data on you, which with the encouragement of the OECD and EU, is morphing into a global GATCA http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/03/27/a-global-fatca-in-the-future/ with collection, storage and auto exchange of ALL persons assets and accounts between ALL countries.
You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist, to see the evidence gathering all around you, that hiding will become more and more difficult in the future. Our government just can’t help themselves. If there is data about you anywhere, they want it. And once they get it, they will use it for ways that it was not intended. You can bank on that. Maybe not today, but sad to say, not too distant of a future.
The surveillance state is here. Good comment Just Me. That is why I’m using Tor! To share with anyone who may not have discovered these yet. Some great technologies already exist to help take control of at least some aspects of your privacy again:
-Tor @ torporject.org – surf the web anonymously
-Jitsi @ jitsi.org – peer to peer encrypted voip (A secure Skype replacement. Create an XMPP account anywhere they are offered, even at jitsi.org, and then download Jitsi.)
-Truecrypt @ truecrypt.org – individual file and folder encryption
-Full disk encryption using TrueCrypt for Windows, Mac File Vault, or LUKS for Linux — Good for encrypting laptops when traveling. You don’t
want to lose your computer or have it stolen if anything is unencrypted. At least this way, your data will be safe.
-VPN – signup for a VPN service and use it (or use Tor instead) especially if ever using an Internet cafe or coffee shop. Also protects against ISP logging in your home country. Choose an exit node in a country where you do not live and that does not have big-brother data retension laws.
For website owners:
-use SFTP instead of FTP (So passwords and files are not sent in the clear.)
-SSL (It’s only $10 per year these days. Becoming very common even if you’re not selling anything. This also protects commenters who provide their real email address. I would love to see IBS using SSL!
There are more, but those are the best that are usable day to day. I try to get all my family and closest friends to secure their digital security. Afterall, if you are the weakest link in the chain, you are putting your family at risk to all kinds of snoopers these days. This isn’t just about the article at hand. But with JustMe’s comment, it seemed apropos. A very important topic nowaday.