Really, the headline says it all:

D.C. Tax Office Servers Found in Alley

There could be a mundane explanation for how two computer servers from the embattled D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue ended up in a trash alcove behind the Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Columbia Heights. [ed. Really? There could?]

Building engineer Melvin Barnes found the three-foot tall, 50-pound servers sitting next to the dumpster on Wednesday morning.

The money quote:

“First of all, I’m upset because I gotta move ‘em,” said Barnes, recalling his first reaction. “I began to look at the stickers that were on the servers and I seen, ‘D.C. Government, Property of the Tax and Revenue’ and I thought, ‘Uh-oh.’”

The office is under investigation in a multi-million dollar embezzlement case in which 10 people have been arrested, including two tax office employees.

Uh oh indeed. As a DC taxpayer for the last 6 years, I’m glad that his first reaction to seeing 3 freaking servers with personally sensitive data on them was to say, “Aw, shiiit. More work for me!”  and then call the local news. Not the first reaction of most of the employees at the DC tax office, I suspect.

Hat tip, NTW.

Filed under: Freedom Meets Darwin, Profiles in Governance