Interesting article in The Intercept last week about the purchase by the U.S. Treasury Department of app data harvested by private brokers, such as Babel Street, in order to circumvent the necessity of obtaining court warrants for searches of personal data.

Nothing shockingly new, but the article ends with a key quote from Jack Poulson, the founder of Tech Inquiry, a research and advocacy group:

“Babel Street’s support for the IRS increasing its surveillance of small businesses and the self employed — after the IRS has already largely given up on auditing the ultrawealthy — is an example of the U.S. surveillance industry being used to help shift the tax burden to the working class”.