On Facebook, Even the Taxman is Your “Friend”

According to an article in last August’s Wall Street Journal, the IRS along with state revenue agents have started using Facebook and MySpace to track down people who owe back taxes. Think about that the next time you brag about a dee-jaying gig you landed in Nebraska online. Then picture tax agents crashing the party to collect $2,000 in back taxes. Seriously, that actually happened to someone. In other words, these social networking sites are free and open for most anyone to view.

Of course librarians know all about this because we study privacy issues in school and are trained to spot potential issues. But what about library patrons? Well, we have plenty of books at Kansas City, Kansas Public Library on Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and for whatever’s next. These books can work wonders for an interested parent who wants to know about all this tech stuff her kids are using or a business professional who wants to monitor her online presence.

These books can change one’s outlook on things. It isn’t just Jerry Springer who urges people to be more discrete in public when it comes to their personal lives. The internet remains the wild west of the information age. It wasn’t all that long ago that a person could break an arm starting a vehicle. Fortunately, the self-starter engine changed things in that area –not to mention a bunch of other consumer product safety enhancements that have come since. While, the information age won’t break your arm the way an antique car from the industrial revolution could, a bad experience with an online auction can still hurt. Speaking of antique technology, the potential for technology to do harm isn’t necessarily a new concept either. Often future librarians read IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation in library school and realize that ethical issues with technology aren’t exactly brand new. We have several copies of Edwin Black’s treatise at Kansas City, Kansas Public Library. Read that book and you’ll never look at a Hollerith machine the same way. Have you ever asked yourself, “What happens when a bunch of Nazis get a hold of some Hollerith machines?” Well, read the book and find out.

On a lighter note, there will be a Job Hunting Workshop on December 1, 2009 starting at 6 p.m. at Kansas City, Kansas Public Library. The workshop will take place in the first floor computer lab of the Main Library located at 625 Minnesota Avenue. Until next time, catch me in the library.