Not entirely unexpected, but still weird to see it confirmed and acknowledged: the federal tax administration in Belgium, my home country, is keeping tabs on citizens (article in Dutch) via their Facebook and Netlog profiles and their activities on eBay and other social networking sites.
Accountants are quick to point out the watchdogs can’t actually use any of the public status updates, photos and videos from users as proof in case of a dispute, but apparently your lifestyle as you depict it online can prompt an investigation when it doesn’t seem to add up to what your official income is.
The local version of the IRS, the BBI, has already admitted that it actively tracks activity from citizens online to sniff out tax avoiders. To quote director Karel Anthonissen: “It’s technically possible, it’s legal, and it’s happening.”
Just in case they read blogs too: I’m getting paid to write this article and I will make sure to report the income, mr. Anthonissen! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to jump in my Maserati and drive to our second house on the coast.
Just read this in the newspaper this morning. Is this really happening and official? If yes, it’s another step into our privacy… Not that I have anything to hide anyway.
I’m glad that I live in the US.
I love how you think that saves you.
You do realize that the KGB bought part of facebook
Welcome to the internets!
Anybody that doesn’t want people to know of the misdemeanors won’t post it on facebook I believe.
The guys that are claming to have made millions with some get rich quick scheme that have literally made nothing may be in trouble. The government will want a chunk of the millions.
I am a Nigerian Prince I find it hard to associate with why girls when I am in Belgium even I am prince with all my money and my nice 24K diamonds it hard for me to talk to them maybe it because I dont pay the taxes please help me anybody have many advices ?
They can watch your photos even if those tax watchdogs are not your friends?
Every thing thats famous gets spy’ed one way or the other.
How the tax watchdog are going to follow me if they arent on my friend list ?
at least Belgain goverment officals are coming clean on the issue.
Exactly. It is not like others are not doing it, with the good ol’ US of A probably in a position of leadership.
I’m pretty sure the gov has a backdoor to data silos like Google, Facebook, etc.
You silly Europeans! Gotta pay your fair share so you can get that ridiculously short workweek and that marvelous health care that is all the rage.
Why even have tax agencies like this? Should the citizenry of such an enlightened and progressive utopia like Europe just be turning over their paychecks to the government and then having the government just allocate to them each according to his/her need? Private ownership is such an outdated model.
someone had a bad day here it seems. or a bad education.
Probably both
here its education i guess
Yeah, because socialism is *so* enlightened. Why, oh why, do people assume that everyone who’s against the nanny state must be a gun totin redneck?
Still at work, on a hot Saturday?
You should go to the beach … it is still free!
Regards from sunny Portugal (social Europe)
Congratulations for being so self-interested. Perhaps insight into why Portugal has the lowest GDP per capita in Western Europe, and is among the poorest member states of the European Union.
Keep bakin’ in the rays, you’re really no different from the plastic females trouncing around Los Angeles.
You silly Americans! You work all day, eat MacD food in the evening while dreaming about becomming rich, an utopian dream that 99% of you never will fulfill. In the Scandinavia we work in order to become free and happy, which 99% of us get. Do you still wonder why Denmark, Norway and Sweden are the most successful countries in the world?
Two things.
1. I’m assuming they can only see public stuff. Check your privacy settings.
2. You just know this is going to fail horribly anyway. You can bet it’ll only be a matter of months before they start chasing someone because they’ve found someone on Facebook with a similar name and a Ferrari.
In Sweden the tax authority has developed a program to scan sites like eBay, poker affiliate sites etc. Just this week it was reported that poker affiliate site owners got their tax increased with about 50 million euro in the latest raid.
Authorities don’t scan blogs and Facebook as far as I know. But there are several reports in the media each year that people have been busted for different kinds of welfare fraud. Getting money for not being able to work because of a hurt back, and then blogging about cutting down large trees at your summer house is not a wise combination. But those cases are mostly manual google searches and neighbors tipping the authorities of.
thanks for this. by now though people should be aware of what their online behaviour might lead to. still especially facebook makes this very intransparent. in this case the best option seems to NOT cheat on taxes.
The issue isnt cheating or not cheating the tax folks.
The issue is the gov’ spying on you , watching your pictures of you and your daughter having a barbecue and wondering how your wife could be better with different clothes.
I hope Facebook improves the privacy setting so only close friends and family can watch my pictures.
I dont want to share any pics with some ol pal, I knew 25 years ago. I cannot relate to the chap anymore and god knows what he want from me.
Leave my country alone you ignorant nincompoops! I’m the muscles from Brussels and what I say is law.
Wait, I thought the big brother post was yesterday…(Kindle/Orwell thing)
Well at least there being smart and doing something that they can gain from instead of like other governments.
Makes you think of what’s next!
And um….x’ cuse me TechCrunch, but ugh….why are the weekend blog posts always SLOW? LOL
Funny how Canada is cracking down on Facebook for not complying with privacy laws while Belgium is taking advantage of Facebook to track it’s citizens.
Both cases reinforce my belief that Facebook’s innocuous “stay in touch with your friends” mantra has lulled people into giving up a lot of personal details that they probably wouldn’t give up otherwise. Facebook’s “privacy controls” make people think their info is private, but it’s pretty clear that that’s hardly the case.
This is not Big Brother you buffons, you “social media” addicts are all volunteering information for these Big Brother style databases called Facebook.
The great irony of today’s Orwellian state is that consumers are offering their information, there is no government spying or invasion involved. We’ve done the work for them.
How you idiots were blinded to this fact, and why TechCrunch continues to trumpet its successes is beyond most of us.
You should be careful about these social networks. Criminals have been traced through Orkut or so as I hear. So basically whatever you tell or discuss is there in a retrievable format for god knows how long and add to this there is the facebooks TOS which just claims everything on the facebook as to be its own rather than of the user. Legality is a question when just anybody can put up any profile. But then watchdogs can watch you and can get you if you are spilling a lot of beans or simply extravagant in case of taxation.
what a joke!
Any indication on how they are doing this? Is it by using publically available data, is it by facebook providing data, is it by accessing accounts without permission using passwords taking from network traffic, is it by taking information that goes through the telecom network from facebook to users accessing the site?
Whichever it is this is concerning and probably indicates that every country is doing the same but not admitting it, and probably not just for tax purposes. I wouldn’t like to be an oppositionist in say Sri Lanka, Burma, Iran or Thailand and use facebook for organising political activities.
In the Norwegian case I mentioned earlier, they only used public data, so the person who was arrested and charged with fraud had an open FB profile. Apparently, the government agencies here have no intention of hacking accounts, and I suppose that would be illegal as well, both here and in the U.S.
I saw this kinda thing coming since the world now is fascinated with social networking sites. I use a personal website to express my interests, blog there, and I have more control of the features and settings unlike facebook and other sites of the like. I get a nervous feeling about all the data being collected by these free social websites, I just try to stay in my bubble, and really watch what I say and post on the internet.
We’ve had at least one case in Norway as well, where the IRS equivalent discovered a woman talking about her live-in boyfriend on Facebook, despite reporting to the authorities that she was a single mom with one household income.
The whole story is here (Google Translate, but I think you can get the meaning: http://translat...history_state0=
Oh a Maserati ist not bad.
wondering what if someone bragged a Buggati picture in there profile… claiming to be their evening rides
Where’s the rest of the stuff at? LOL
Bugatti is VolksWagen , ya know…:-P
George Orwell – said and predicted it all.
http://en.wikip...een_Eighty-Four
The British government are doing much the same thing. I used to really like facebook, but then I really thought about it and got creeped out by just how easily I found out things about people. It occurred to me that anyone would be able to find out the same kind of stuff about me, and that is why I quit facebook and closed my account.
http://www.befo...re-friends-for/
I understand that the UK tax authority (HMRC) has been doing this for some time – and who can blame them?
It’s as well to be aware that whatever you share online is potentially available to HMRC scrutiny. In effect this new development is a natural extension of HMRC monitoring the small ads in local papers and more recently Ebay and other online ‘auction’ sites. We’re also used to the stories of how HMRC staff walk around the streets in Wimbledon to see which home owners have let their home and/or gardens to tennis fans during the annual tournament.
I wrote about this in more detail on the TaxBuzz blog last Feb.
I don’t like this.
Oh well this has probably been discussed too much in too many places but I really don’t see a problem or any kind of oppresive spy state thing here. If you publish something in the public domain that says you drive two ferraris but your taxes don’t suggest it, then it seems perfectly reasonable that tax authorities might choose to investigate you further. Why don’t people understand that posting things on the internet means you are making a public statement. One of these websites even has the tagline “Broadcast yourself”. Could it be any clearer!?
Police are using facebook to track down fugitives. The friends list is awesome.
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A Belgian Exam Disputes Board has held that two students’ comments on Facebook on how they had helped each other whilst cheating on a written exam, is acceptable evidence of their fraud.
http://www.stan...ikelId=AI2E44V0