Hacker News Reader

Comment by shrikant | Hacker News Reader

This appears to be an elaborate troll.

A commenter on the Reddit discussion of this news item is shedding further details here: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ze9zn/hackers_say_...

View on HN

I also find this comment noteworthy:

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ze9zn/hackers_say_...

  Fake...
  Unless an employee did it...
  because
  PWC uses Locklizard electronic document security..
  a password is needed to sign on
  a password is required to open the document
  a password is needed to print a document
  no copying or extracting of the file is permitted
  document control stops the file from being open after hours     (middle of the night...lol)
  and the files are encrypted and requires a 48 bit key on   the persons pc and server to match...
  So if someone steals the file its useless...

>> PWC uses Locklizard electronic document security

Wow, a lot of assumptions here: was it implemented properly, was the master password stored on file server, was file server configure correctly, is data transferred securely before it is encrypted, etc tec

And the assumption that the PwC US uses Locklizard, and not a PwC firm in any other countries.

You know, considering they're separate partnerships and all.

And that's how we know the comment on reddit is trolling.

During tax season, i.e., right now (for extended deadline returns due Sept 15/17th, as Romney's are), accountants (especially Big 4 accountants like PWC) frequently work past midnight on returns. A security system which locked files after hours would be functionally useless in a firm the size of PWC.

Moreover, Locklizard is a DRM solution intended for use with distributed files (i.e., videos, presentations, etc.). It is not an internal solution...

1. These would be historical documents (i.e not refiled this year) which could be treated differently to 'working copies'.

2. These files would likely be distributed at some point. So it's not unreasonable that they would use one solution for both internal and external use cases.

1) All tax returns are live until the statute of limitations for assessments expires, i.e., usually 6 years. Tax software propogates changes from prior years to the current years. Prior years within the SOL are kept "live" b/c amendments need to be propogated to subsequent years. There is no distinction between historical returns and "working copies."

2) Tax returns are either filed electronically, using files with no DRM (per IRS instructions), or via printouts. Digital copies are distributed by the client themselves, so any DRM would be imposed by the client, not PwC. Hence, it is completely unreasonable to expect that PWC would use a DRM solution like the purported software for tax returns.

Well, that's silly. A password required to print a document is defeated by a person with the password required to open a document who has a smartphone with a camera.

Maybe not:

http://google.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fnashvillecit...

At the end of this Reddit comment is a link to an alleged screenshot of Romney tax filing page 1.

http://i.imgur.com/HK4mp.jpg

334K health insurance deduction? WTF?

font looks fishy

It's fake but that's probably a reasonable amount for a rich person whose spouse has multiple sclerosis. Those are therapy dressage horses.

That is almost certainly a fake. Lines 7-21 don't sum to line 22. The zip code is the zip for the Romney campaign, not Romney's home.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com