“The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration said in a May 8 report (pdf) that it was ‘concerned that taxpayers and anti-government or anti-tax groups with malevolent intent may use the Internet or social media to track down and identify IRS employees, their families, their homes, and personal information to threaten, intimidate, or locate them for physical violence.’
The report noted that 34 percent or 11 of 32 IRS managers whose full name and office telephone number appeared on manual correspondence were contacted by taxpayers outside of normal business methods, such as through their personal telephone lines or social media. However, none reported being threatened because of these contacts.
The IRS said it will remove workers’ first names from communications, leaving their last names and respective Mr., Ms., or a gender-neutral title. Phone numbers will still be included in communications.”