"Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

Re:"Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user compla... by Xylakant on Tuesday April 03, 2012 @02:20AM (#3791749)

The German variant is aptly called "Elster" and while it uses ssl it lacks authentication. I could file a bogus tax return for you if I know your tax number. It's also mandatory for businesses when you need to file a VAT statement. Oh, and last time I checked, the client software required windows - there's a less comfortable online version though.

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Re:"Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user compla... by nknight on Tuesday April 03, 2012 @08:13AM (#3792568)

You can file a bogus tax return for someone in the US just as easily. I'd be surprised if that weren't the case in most countries. I believe there have been occasional incidents of people doing so to collect other peoples' tax refunds, but I don't hear about it very often.

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Re:"Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user compla... by Xylakant on Tuesday April 03, 2012 @08:29AM (#3792612)

While tangential to the issue discussed here, one example of siphoning tax refunds http://www.cringely.com/2012/03/the-30-billion-hack/ (i think that was linked on HN last week)

VAT statements in Germany are a bit riskier though: If you give the Revenue Service permission to withdraw money and I file a VAT statement for you which shows a large income they'll just go and collect 20%. It's a bit an edge case but that's the reason I manually send the VAT collected each month. I'd feel much safer if the interface was authenticated in some way.

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