The IRS Free File program has generated usage far beyond agency expectations, with 53 million taxpayers anticipated to file eletronically this year according to CNN. However, there is a flip side to this free web service. A coalition of advocacy groups (EPIC, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, National Consumer Law Center, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group) in a joint letter to Pamela F. Olson, Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, contends that free file services offered by H&R Block violate user privacy by collecting and using personal data provided by taxpayers to cross-market them for other affiliated and third party services. The coalition communicated similar privacy related concerns about free file services to the agency last year.