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IRS accused of abusing Internet

"The magnitude of the results clearly indicates significant misuse of the Internet in the IRS."

US Treasury inspector Gordon Milbourn III

The use of government computers to browse Internet pornography sites, visit chat rooms and read personal e-mail is "widespread" among Internal Revenue Service (IRS employees, a US Department of the Treasury investigation found.

IRS employees viewed more than 1 million questionable images and "objects" on Web sites during a one-week period last October, according to a study released last week in Washington by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. That was six months after the IRS instituted a policy limiting personal use of the Internet at work.

"The magnitude of the results clearly indicates significant misuse of the Internet in the IRS," Treasury inspector Gordon Milbourn III wrote in a memo to the tax collection agency.

The audit marked the second time the Treasury Department has found inappropriate use of government computers by IRS employees.

A November 2000 investigation uncovered "substantial non-business use" of the Internet by agency personnel, a finding that prompted the IRS to issue the written policy for Internet access.

In their latest report, the Treasury inspectors found more than 1 million "accesses" to Web site "objects" that would be prohibited by the IRS policy from 19,581 computer addresses.

In addition to sexually explicit sites, employees used to government machines to view personal e-mail accounts, streaming news, music and video. Some employees downloaded files from the Internet onto government computers, the inspector general said.

The inspector general said it was difficult to judge the true extend of the problem because a Web site may contain multiple "objects." For example, a test of the Web site for Cable News Network found 81 "objects" on one page. Similarly, the inspector general said it couldn't determine how many employees acted inappropriately because one employee might have used multiple computers.

In response to the report, David Mader, the IRS's chief information officer, questioned the count of potential violations, noting that one person can be counted as accessing as many as 100 "objects" by visiting a single Web site. In some cases a violation may be recorded when an employee browses a legitimate site, such as those for Congress or news organizations.

"It could lead those who do not understand the mechanics of the Internet to question the ethics and integrity of the vast number of IRS employees who are complying with our Internet use policy," Mader said.

The report said only a small number of employees appear to be chronic abusers: 28 percent of all inappropriate accesses were made from 122 computer addresses.

It warned that inappropriate Internet usage could lead to security breaches of IRS computer networks. Such problems at organizations similar in size to the IRS caused system restoration and productivity losses of up to US$11.5 million annually, the report said.

Senator Charles Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the IRS, said the persistent misuse of Internet access is "stunning," and the tax collector must do a better job policing its employees.

"I expect the agency to do a much better job of training employees on Internet usage, on deploying blocking software appropriately, and on monitoring appropriate usage," he said in a statement released by his office.

The inspector general recommended the IRS require employees to sign forms stating they understand the Internet usage policy, improve software blocking access to inappropriate sites, especially pornographic and gambling sites and spend more time monitoring employee Internet usage.

Mader said IRS employees have been fired for going to inappropriate sites and "others have resigned rather than face the embarrassment of termination."
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