Just a refresher, Intuit are the fine corporate citizens who in 2003, got caught using Macrovision's Safecast and Safedisc software, which has long been suspected of being spyware and of making potentially unsafe changes to a person's computer. In this case, Safecast was caught writing license information to a section of the hard drive (the low-level area, where Windows cannot write normally) where it is not safe and is vulnerable to damage.

So if you bought a new HD, or a new computer, or if you had a power outage and that information was damaged? Buy another Copy, you dirty pirate.

They're at it again, from slashdot.

"Apparently Intuit thinks it's okay to share information about your taxes (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/13/BUG2DC78FN1.DTL) about taxes with third paries. According to this article, Intuit is using a third party tracking technology on all tax forms submitted to the IRS. "We could capture your name, your Social Security number or any other information that you willingly pass to a Web site," acknowledged Matt Belkin, who serves as vice president of best practices for Utah marketing giant Omniture, which tracks the online activities of people using Intuit's TurboTax. The IRS disavows any knowledge of this, saying "The IRS does not take a position on Web tracking tools." Makes you wonder where your tax information is going..."

So it looks like this is for people using the free online web-based tax filing (and preparation?). Doesn't surprise me, there's absolutely no way I'm filling out a tax form online.

I do use TurboTax to prepare on my computer and submit using electronic filing, which does not appear to be affected by this.

It's free to file, you pay to use their software for online preperation (I know, my folks did their taxes through Yahoo's version of TurboTax)

Is there a viable alternative, though?

Is there a viable alternative, though? There's this thing called a pen that I use to fill out my tax forms and then use a stamp and an envelope to deliver them. It's pretty much fail-proof against computer hackers.

Eh, I've been using the online Turbotax for years. It's not like they're giving out much more than is already out there anyway.

Hmm.. now that I think about it... I think Omniture will join DoubleClick on my blocklist on FireFox. Try tracking THIS, motherfucker... :D

I did the online TurboTax thing a couple of times a few years ago. Even if they were doing it then, it doesn't matter since I'm on a completely different box now. :D

What a load of crap.

The technology connects a company's site with that of an affiliated marketing firm, which collects and analyzes data on Web usage. Intuit and Block say Web bugs are employed only to maintain the quality of their respective offerings.
Newsflash, kids -- every major web site does this sort of thing. Some use Omniture, some use other tools, but there isn't a business site out there that doesn't do some sort of user tracking.

Having some understanding of what your users are doing, where they're going, etc., is the best way to optimize and improve a site. And yet the same people who complain about this sort of thing are first in line to complain about the crappy usability on most sites.

Could it be abused? In theory it could. And if you're worried that a company the size of Intuit is really interested in harvesting your secret personal information, then go grab your tinfoil helmet and do your taxes by hand.

(But then again, the mailman could also open your envelope and get all your data! Oh my! They're all out to get you!)