Comment by jasonriddle | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jasonriddle | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Just so that you are aware, TaxHawk (which owns and operates FreeTaxUSA) may choose to sell your information in the event of a "business transition" (bankruptcy, merger, etc)

From https://www.freetaxusa.com/privacy

>> Business transitions

> In the event TaxHawk evaluates or conducts a business transition whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, such as a merger, being acquired by another company, or selling a portion of its assets, the personal information of users will, in most instances, be part of the assets transferred. Users will be notified, via email and/or through a prominent notice on the FreeTaxUSA.com website, 30 days prior to a change of ownership or control of their personal information.

That sounds like a disclaimer for something that is true for every company, no?

But unlike every other company, this company has your most sensitive tax information. For some that's fine, but others might not like that.

Wouldn’t Intuit do the same?

Yes,

https://www.intuit.com/privacy/statement/

>> How we share your personal information

> For mergers and acquisitions. If we are involved with a merger, asset sale, financing, liquidation, bankruptcy, or the acquisition of all or part of our business to another company, we may share your personal information with that company and its advisors before and after the transaction date.

Yes, but the IRS wouldn't. Which is just one of the benefits of having a direct file program.

IANAL, but my understanding is that you are incorrect. EULAs can be written such that there are irrevocable privacy rights even in the event of corporate actions. I think 23 & me is going through something like that now.

I'm confident some of the privacy-protecting apps I use have irrevocable EULAs. But I've never seen one from a major corporation.

From their open letter:

> Any buyer of 23andMe will be required to comply with applicable law with respect to the treatment of customer data.

https://blog.23andme.com/articles/open-letter

So the buyer is bound by the same terms but they absolutely do get the data ("be part of the assets transferred" as per FreeTaxUSA's terms that we are discussing).

Do you have another reference in mind?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com