IRS Data Mistake Breaks the Social Contract with Americans, Says OTI

WASHINGTON—In response to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) having improperly shared Americans’ confidential tax information with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Open Technology Institute (OTI), a New America program fostering equitable access to digital technology and its benefits, issued the following statement from Senior Policy Analyst Sydney Saubestre.

"The reported sharing of confidential IRS taxpayer information with immigration enforcement is not a technical misstep. It breaches a legal firewall designed to protect the public and Americans’ trust in the government. This is our data, and OTI has long warned that any use of IRS records for purposes other than tax administration puts all taxpayers’ privacy at risk. We provide this data to the federal government in a specific context and for a specific purpose: to comply with tax law and pay our taxes. Data exchanges are part of the social contract—the government collects this information, and, in return, the government must hold up its end of the bargain by using that data only for the purposes promised. The data sharing agreement that the IRS and DHS entered into back in April doesn’t change that. 

The people whose records were disclosed were doing exactly what the law requires. They paid their taxes and shared deeply personal information under explicit guarantees of confidentiality. Yet, their trust was betrayed, and the protections meant to keep their information safe were broken. These safeguards are not optional; they exist to prevent misuse of taxpayers’ sensitive data. And in this case, the misuse came from the federal government itself—the very entity entrusted to uphold and protect our personal information. 

Data is a core part of our government’s fabric, and every time firewalls like this are breached, that fabric frays. The message is clear: The government’s promises about data use are conditional. When those promises can be ignored, trust breaks down, participation decreases, and the integrity of every federal system is weakened."

OTI has pushed for and written extensively on the responsible use of American data. To learn more, be sure to check out the following:

• Sydney Saubestre, Sarah Forland, and Prem M. Trivedi, "Protect Data to Preserve Public Trust: Know Your State’s Rights," (OTI, 2026)
• Sydney Saubestre, How to Protect Government Data with Privacy-Enhancing Technology (OTI, 2025).
• Sydney Saubestre, “OTI Urges Congress to Modernize the Privacy Act” (OTI, 2025)
• Sydney Saubestre, “The Supreme Court Green Lit Access to Your Social Security Data. Here’s What That Means for Your Privacy.” (OTI, 2025)
• Sydney Saubestre, Nat Meysenburg, Comfort Sampong, and Joel Yong, “Quiz: What Does DOGE Know About You?” (OTI, 2025).
• Sydney Saubestre and Shannon Lynch, “The Weaponization of Data” (New America, 2025)
• Sydney Saubestre and David Ruiz, “Did DOGE “Breach” Americans’ Data?” (Malwarebytes Labs, 2025).