Intuit is accused of deliberately allowing fraudulent returns for increased market share

Brian Krebs writes that Intuit is accused, apparently with proof  like audio, video, or email, that Intuit made the conscious decision to reduce fraud detection when criminals went to their competitors and caused them to lose market share.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/02/turbotaxs-anti-fraud-efforts-under-scrutiny/

Question:  If a criminal files a fraudulent return from a web site , and pays with a percentage of the refund, then the refund can't be recovered, will the web site operator have to return the fee?  What's the penalty?  What if they're found to be doing it deliberately?  Losing their ability to file?

People:  Friends don't let friends overpay their taxes.

Do we have evidence of Verizon's Evil?

You be the judge...

From Ars Technica:

Verizon and the rest of the country's biggest Internet service providers joined forces this month to argue that so-called "common carrier" regulations for utilities shouldn't be applied to broadband. Such rules would force the ISPs to innovate less and spend less money than they do today on network upgrades, they argue.

Yet Verizon obtains a variety of perks from the government for its FiOS Internet service by using public utility rules to its advantage, a new report drawing on public documents says.
This isn’t a new practice and it isn’t illegal, but it could become part of the debate over network neutrality rules and the transition from heavily regulated landline phone networks to Internet-based voice service.
“It's the secret that's been hiding in plain sight,” said Harold Feld, senior VP of consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge and an expert on the FCC and telecommunications. “At the exact moment that these guys are complaining about how awful Title II is, they are trying to enjoy all the privileges of Title II on the regulated side.”

 Oh and by the way...

Verizon led massive astroturf campaign to end NJ broadband obligation

Some Verizon "supporters" had no idea e-mails were sent on their behalf.

FBI - Cyber’s Most Wanted - the Chinese Military?!

The FBI is posting their "Cyber Most Wanted" list on the Web . 

(With NY Times Headline)

Five entries are people allegedly in the PLA.   "The subjects, including [pictured], were officers of the PRC’s Third Department of the General Staff Department of the People’s Liberation Army (3PLA), Second Bureau, Third Office, Military Unit Cover Designator (MUCD) 61398, at some point during the investigation. "

Will China follow suit and post the names and pictures of American service people?

 U.S. Charges Chinese Army Personnel With Cyberspying

Intellectual Ventures - Biggest patent troll and enemy of innovation - Slapdown!

From ARS

The case was just weeks away from a jury trial, but US District Judge Anthony Trenga didn't let it get that far. In an opinion published Wednesday, Trenga found that IV's patents were simply abstract ideas: "nothing more than the mere manipulation or reorganization of data," he wrote. "At most, the patents describe a more efficient system or method for performing tasks than could be done without a computer, i.e. monitoring expenditures according to preset limits (the '137 Patent) or determining what would appeal to a particular user from a particular website (the '382 Patent.)"

woot!

Rep Mike Rogers (R-Mich) actually said this:

"You can't have your privacy violated if you don't know your privacy is violated"

Then he was incredulous when law professor Stephen Vladeck disagreed with him "If a tree falls in the forest, it makes a noise whether you're there to see it or not"

"That's a new interesting standard in the law, we're gonna have this conversation and we're gonna have wine, that's gonna get a lot more interesting"

The possibilities are endless.

There's a really good write-up in Techdirt

A good parody article in Popehat too