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Omaha Steve

(99,054 posts)
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 09:30 PM Jul 2014

IRS says hard drive that lost emails destroyed

Source: AP-Excite

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS said Friday that Lois Lerner's computer hard drive was destroyed three years ago, ending any chance of retrieving her lost emails.

In court papers, the IRS said the hard drive was destroyed after two sets of trained technicians tried to retrieve the data. The tax agency said it was standard procedure to destroy old data storage equipment that may have contained confidential taxpayer information.

The IRS says Lerner's computer crashed in 2011, destroying an untold number of emails. At the time, Lerner headed the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status.

Lerner is a central figure in congressional investigations into the handling of applications by tea party and other conservative groups.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20140718/us-irs-investigation-51e2305a17.html

28 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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IRS says hard drive that lost emails destroyed (Original Post) Omaha Steve Jul 2014 OP
kinda like the fire that destroyed "W"s DD214 BlueCollar Jul 2014 #1
take a suck of that one, fuckers AngryAmish Jul 2014 #2
This witch hunt has only grown more unseemly with time Demeter Jul 2014 #3
Meanwhile a fed judge in Cincinnati rules that a lawsuit against the IRS can move forward alp227 Jul 2014 #4
Well. That's a shame. bluestateguy Jul 2014 #5
the only crisis Niceguy1 Jul 2014 #9
I believe the HDD was destroyed for the reasons cited. gvstn Jul 2014 #6
I agree. xfundy Jul 2014 #13
Hey, all they have to do is call the NSA--they got 'em. lastlib Jul 2014 #21
Ha ha. Now audit all these rethugs mwrguy Jul 2014 #7
Hey Darrell....... Grassy Knoll Jul 2014 #8
Don't bother the El Shaman Jul 2014 #28
Aren't there two copies of each email? rickford66 Jul 2014 #10
Ask El Shaman Jul 2014 #14
They did creeksneakers2 Jul 2014 #16
This message was self-deleted by its author cerveza_gratis Jul 2014 #11
You had El Shaman Jul 2014 #15
This message was self-deleted by its author cerveza_gratis Jul 2014 #20
I Am Actually Beginning To Like the I.R.S., Sir The Magistrate Jul 2014 #12
Liberal groups got the front attacks Iliyah Jul 2014 #17
This message was self-deleted by its author Veilex Jul 2014 #18
how cun veen yunt.. BadGimp Jul 2014 #19
The IRS pulls out any communication & keeps it with the tax-exempt applications. No apps were lost. Sunlei Jul 2014 #22
This a baldface lie of ommission blackspade Jul 2014 #23
And unfortunately we made no backup copies ... nt bemildred Jul 2014 #24
Bernie Sanders Sends Shudders Up Koch Spines By Explaining Why Republicans Attack The IRS mitty14u2 Jul 2014 #25
Saw that from the git go. Stryder Jul 2014 #27
Pretty much standard security industry practice. Nothing to see here on point Jul 2014 #26
 

Demeter

(85,373 posts)
3. This witch hunt has only grown more unseemly with time
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 09:50 PM
Jul 2014

I am surprised, however, that no one has approached the NSA. Or maybe they have.

alp227

(31,959 posts)
4. Meanwhile a fed judge in Cincinnati rules that a lawsuit against the IRS can move forward
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 09:50 PM
Jul 2014

Gen Discussion thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025259992

One comment after the Cincinnati.com story suggested that the Cincinnati employees could have copies of Lois Lerner's "lost emails".

bluestateguy

(44,173 posts)
5. Well. That's a shame.
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 09:51 PM
Jul 2014

Meanwhile we have a refugee crisis on the border, 300 people killed in a likely terrorist act over Ukraine, and a war in Israel/Palestine.

So you know what?

I DON'T CARE.

gvstn

(2,805 posts)
6. I believe the HDD was destroyed for the reasons cited.
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 10:00 PM
Jul 2014

That is what you would do with a damaged HDD. The fact that any IT expert looked at it would point to the fact that there was no process in place to backup individual computers in the department. If there had been some type of backup then the backup could have been restored to a new HDD. (All that makes sense in that there are millions of Federal employees and it would be unfeasible to backup everyone's HDD.) So she loses some of her recent work-product.

I did think that emails would be recorded somewhere else. Since the Federal government has the eventual goal of going paperless, I would think they have a vigorous way of storing electronic correspondence. Three years it not that long to save emails, especially if they are relating to various particular cases being handled by the office. If I had had dealings with the IRS, say 4 years ago) and corresponded with an agent electronically then I would expect them to have a copy of that correspondence and not just on that agent's computer.

I don't know if this loss is due to incompetence/lack of planning or some sort of stalling thing but it just doesn't sound correct to me.

xfundy

(5,105 posts)
13. I agree.
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 10:42 PM
Jul 2014

It does seem odd there wasn't any kind of backup, even on a tape-based media system. But, gov't agencies have often been slow to adapt to newer technologies, so it's entirely feasible. Still, if the emails existed, they'd prove the buttheads wrong yet again.

rickford66

(5,497 posts)
10. Aren't there two copies of each email?
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 10:16 PM
Jul 2014

The sender and receiver each have a copy. So, unless all her interesting emails were sent to herself alone, why can't they find the others?

creeksneakers2

(7,468 posts)
16. They did
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 11:03 PM
Jul 2014

The IRS was able to recover 24,000 E-mails from their recipients. They've all been turned over to Issa.

Response to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Response to El Shaman (Reply #15)

Iliyah

(25,111 posts)
17. Liberal groups got the front attacks
Fri Jul 18, 2014, 11:03 PM
Jul 2014

so yes find the e-mails and pour salt on the make believe cuts that the tea party aka conservatives groups claim which is bogus bullshit.

Response to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
22. The IRS pulls out any communication & keeps it with the tax-exempt applications. No apps were lost.
Sat Jul 19, 2014, 10:07 AM
Jul 2014

probably a huge number of republican generated, spam, whining emails that could very easily be re-produced by the sender if they were anything important.

blackspade

(10,056 posts)
23. This a baldface lie of ommission
Sat Jul 19, 2014, 10:35 AM
Jul 2014
"Lerner is a central figure in congressional investigations into the handling of applications by tea party and other conservative groups."


What about the liberal groups targeted and denied? What a bunch of crap.

mitty14u2

(1,015 posts)
25. Bernie Sanders Sends Shudders Up Koch Spines By Explaining Why Republicans Attack The IRS
Sat Jul 19, 2014, 12:27 PM
Jul 2014

What Sen. Sanders explained in the video above is what the Republican Party and the Koch brothers don’t want the American people to understand. The IRS scandal isn’t about the “targeting” of conservative groups. The scandal is a Republican attempt to scare the IRS off of looking into their dark money groups and the billionaires who fund them. Republicans are trying to protect their money machine.

The GOP is extremely dependent on large donors for their funding. They don’t have the small donor base that fuels the Democratic Party. This is why Republicans are pushing for more unlimited contributions in politics. More unlimited contributions mean more direct spending by billionaires to buy their candidates, and when a billionaire owns a member of Congress, that member no longer works for the American people.

The Republican majority in the House is an example of a billionaire owned legislative body. House Republicans aren’t interested in passing legislation to extend unemployment benefits, help veterans, and create jobs. Their top priority is to take away programs that help the non-wealthy (Obamacare, Medicare, food stamps, school lunches, etc.) and replace them with tax breaks for the wealthy and deregulation.

Speaker John Boehner loves to refer to the House as the People’s House, but really it is a billionaire’s lounge. The Koch brothers and the other billionaires are trying to purchase our representative democracy. The last thing they want is for people to catch on to their newfound purchasing power.

http://www.politicususa.com/2014/07/15/bernie-sanders-sends-shudders-koch-spines-explaining-republicans-attack-irs.html

GOP Cut Funding to IRS by $1.1 Billion to Protect Rich from being Audited!

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