Government researcher Carl Malamud discovered Social Security Numbers as he was searching through publicly available documents from Section 527 political organizations on a specialized IRS database.
He notified the IRS, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the "senior White House officials" of the privacy breach on July 2, 1013. "On July 3, the administration removed this database from public view." Malamud has posted a redacted copy of his letter to government officials.
Malamud has also released a public statement describing why he asked the IRS to temporarily shut down its database of political organization filings:
"Public.Resource.Org has discovered that the Internal Revenue Service has posted the Social Security Numbers of tens of thousands of Americans on government web sites. The database in question contains the filings of Section 527 political organizations such as campaign committees. This Section 527 database is an essential tool used by journalists, watchdog groups, congressional staffers, and citizens. While the public posting of this database serves a vital public purpose (and this database must be restored as quickly as possible), the failure to remove individual Social Security Numbers is an extraordinarily reckless act."
Source:
"Why We Asked the I.R.S. to Temporarily Turn the Lights Off on Section 527 Data," Public.Resource.Org
Related articles:
"The IRS Mistakenly Exposed Thousands of Social Security Numbers," National Journal
"Tax Roundup, 7/9/2013: IRS identity-theft assistance edition," Joe Kristan, who quotes from a Tax Analysts article
Found via reddit.
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