Posted on 05/18/2013 7:24:12 PM PDT by 7thOF7th
Did the IRS ever strong arm FR and demand member lists?
I think your question is extremely fair.
I have wondered that for years.
No need really. Just run a bot for a couple hours via Google. We are all there.
Actually, I have wonder similar things. I suspect they do not have to ask for the list. If it is on the Internet, Uncle knows about it, if he wants to.
Just google your screen name + Free Republic. It isn’t hard to find out who people are from there if you have the resources.
They already have a list. We’re the ones who file tax returns with them every year.
I can’t see what they would use to justify such questions.
I don’t think FR is tax exempt. I know our donations are not deductible.
Durning the clintoon years there was a lawsuit that had it origions in DC. There were trolls and a not so nice individual that went by the name of “esquire”, it was political.
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And since google is in bed with the admin anyway, you can bet we are all crossrefrenced across many govt databases via IP addy and a number of other ways. NSA not required. Nor a warrant. Data mining 101. Most people never realize it.
What is a bot?
Of course not. Like much of the internet, we are “below the radar”. We are not high profile.
I’d imagine an IRS agent thinking about doing so would figure out that we’d be able to quickly raise funds for adequate legal representation, so he wouldn’t try it. The IRS has generally bullied those who could not defend themselves.
I didn’t realize just how many posts of mine google has archived. lol
A computer program that runs automatically to gather information.
a program that can do this type of datamining automatically basically. Click start and it does the work.
Thanks for the answer, I was just curious about whether the IRS or other government agencies might have ever tried to impede the free exchange of opinion here on FR.
Facebook is the other big one and there are many many more. Probably all feeding info to Der Fuhrer through force or willing complicity.
FR is about the only place I really trust and we’re out in the open here so the feds can gather info that way.
Big Brother never forgets a pretty face ;)
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