A city government wants to track down the people who run the small businesses and do not pay the city’s $125 business-license fee. The city hired a private detective in order to obtain the IRS tax records of city residents and compute who has reported the small business income to IRS and not paid the license fee.
a) What arguments might the city provide in support of this action?
b) What arguments might privacy advocates provide against it?
c) Should this application of computer matching be permitted? Provide your reasons.