IRS and Privacy

LA Times has an article on how law enforcement is tapping IRS records. A quote:

"The law that requires agencies to create privacy impact assessments can be waived to protect classified, sensitive or private information, according to the E-Government Act of 2002. Hohn, who composed the privacy assessment, said it left out some information so tax evaders and terrorists wouldn't know how law enforcement is targeting them.

The point, Hohn said, is "not to reveal your strategy."

This quote is contrary to one of my long-held positions: it's okay for the government to accumulate data on me provided I'm notified periodically of what it holds (as the Social Security Administration does with the wage information it has). That gives me the chance to protest and to get incorrect data changed or deleted.

Law enforcement certainly doesn't like the idea--they like to imagine themselves to be hunters/detectives who accumulate information then capture their suspects. Telling suspects, hey, we just opened a dossier on you for possibly contributing money to a terrorist organization in Lebanon (apparently the sort of thing most common in the context of the article) means you can't build a case to take to trial and build your career on. But I'm not sure we want FBI agents to build their careers on that. I think the public might be safer using "deterrence" (the good guys are capable and on the job) rather than post-crime "punishment".