Safeguards of E-Filing Systems Fall Too Short

As they are presently implemented, I won’t use the e-filing systems offered by either the IRS or California (“File Taxes Online, on Their Dime,” Personal Finance, Jan. 19).

My objections are several.

1. I see no reason to share my tax information with a private company.

No matter what contractual safeguards allegedly are in place, it must be true that the more places my data are stored, the more vulnerable they are to misuse.

2. I have no reason to believe that the companies collecting this data practice good Internet security. While the data may or may not be safe in transit because of good encryption, they inevitably must reside for a time on one or more of their servers, which remain connected to the Internet. I decline to trust the alleged third-party verification without much more information.

3. To use these systems, I must run commercial software, the source code of which I am unable to examine. I have no way to guarantee that such programs make no other Internet connections that could expose my data.

Many commercial programs have been detected exchanging data without notice to the user.

4. The commercial software is available only for operating systems that I don’t use.

Today, I can generate the numbers I write on paper forms using any method I want. When the IRS allows me to e-file using any program I want -- even ones I write myself -- and send the results directly, then I’ll reconsider.

Dave Close

Costa Mesa