Space Karen’s made-up agency is taking a sledgehammer to just about every agency that was either investigating one of his companies or in charge of oversight to keep him and his rich friends from ripping us off. Two weeks ago, DOGE got into the Department of Treasury and was given unfettered access to the U.S. government’s payment system. They also got into the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and accessed the demographic data and employment histories of everyone who has ever applied for a job or worked for the federal government. OPM has the “largest collection of employee data in the country” and now Apartheid Clyde and his Hitler Youth have access to it.
On Tuesday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with several different interested parties, sued DOGE to stop them from whatever evil plans they have to weaponize American’s private data against them. Similar to the lawsuit regarding their access to the Treasury, this filing asks that a judge issue a temporary restraining order for DOGE to get out of OPM’s systems and destroy whatever data they’ve already accumulated.
About the lawsuit: EFF and a coalition of privacy defenders have filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the private information of millions of Americans that is stored by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and to delete any data that has been collected or removed from databases thus far. The lawsuit also names OPM, and asks the court to block OPM from sharing further data with DOGE. The Plaintiffs who have stepped forward to bring this lawsuit include individual federal employees as well as multiple employee unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees and the Association of Administrative Law Judges.
What’s in OPM’s Databases? The data housed by OPM is extraordinarily sensitive for several reasons. The federal government is the nation’s largest employer, and OPM’s records are one of the largest, if not the largest, collection of employee data in the country. In addition to personally identifiable information such as names, social security numbers, and demographics, it includes work experience, union activities, salaries, performance, and demotions; health information like life insurance and health benefits; financial information like death benefit designations and savings programs; and classified information nondisclosure agreements. It holds records for millions of federal workers and millions more Americans who have applied for federal jobs.
DOGE’s abuse of power: The mishandling of this information could lead to such significant and varied abuses that they are impossible to detail. On its own, DOGE’s unchecked access puts the safety of all federal employees at risk of everything from privacy violations to political pressure to blackmail to targeted attacks. Last year, Elon Musk publicly disclosed the names of specific government employees whose jobs he claimed he would cut before he had access to the system. He has also targeted at least one former employee of Twitter. With unrestricted access to OPM data, and with his ownership of the social media platform X, federal employees are at serious risk.
How the Privacy Act Protects Americans’ Data: Under the Privacy Act of 1974, disclosure of government records about individuals generally requires the written consent of the individual whose data is being shared, with few exceptions. Congress passed the Privacy Act in response to a crisis of confidence in the government as a result of scandals including Watergate and the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). Congress was also concerned with the potential for abuse presented by the increasing use of electronic records and the use of identifiers such as social security numbers, both of which made it easier to combine individual records housed by various agencies and to share that information. In addition to protecting our private data from disclosure to others, the Privacy Act, along with the Freedom of Information Act, also allows us to find out what information is stored about us by the government. The Privacy Act includes a private right of action, giving ordinary people the right to decide for themselves whether to bring a lawsuit to enforce their statutory privacy rights, rather than relying on government agencies or officials.
An “unheard-of scale” of privacy violation: It is no coincidence that these protections were created the last time Congress rose to the occasion of limiting the surveillance powers of an out-of-control President. That was fifty years ago; the potential impact of leaking this government information, representing the private lives of millions, is now even more serious. DOGE and OPM are violating Americans’ most fundamental privacy rights at an almost unheard-of scale.
DOGE’s invasion is even worse than when China hacked OPM: Ten years ago, OPM announced that it had been the target of two data breaches. Over twenty-million security clearance records—information on anyone who had undergone a federal employment background check, including their relatives and references—were reportedly stolen by state-sponsored attackers working for the Chinese government. At the time, it was considered one of the most potentially damaging breaches in government history.
DOGE employees likely have access to significantly more data than this. Just as an example, the OPM databases also include personal information for anyone who applied to a federal job through USAJobs.gov—24.5 million people last year. Make no mistake: this is, in many ways, a worse breach than what occurred in 2014.
DOGE can also add/delete/modify our private records: DOGE has access to ten more years of data; it likely includes what was breached before, as well as significantly more sensitive data. (This is not to mention that while DOGE has access to these databases, they reportedly have the ability to not only export records, but to add them, modify them, or delete them.) Every day that DOGE maintains its current level of access, more risks mount.
What’s next: The question is not “what happens if this data falls into the wrong hands.” The data has already fallen into the wrong hands, according to the law, and it must be safeguarded immediately. Violations of Americans’ privacy have played out across multiple agencies, without oversight or safeguards, and EFF is glad to join the brigade of lawsuits to protect this critical information. Our case is fairly simple: OPM’s data is extraordinarily sensitive, OPM gave it to DOGE, and this violates the Privacy Act. We are asking the court to block any further data sharing and to demand that DOGE immediately destroy any and all copies of downloaded material.
[From Electronic Frontier Foundation]
I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but this is not great. There is no telling what sh-t Elno and the DOGE Bags have planned and that’s scary. The “good” news is that a judge is likely to grant the injunction on similar grounds to what happened with the Treasury case. The “bad” news is that DOGE already has all of this private information and if you think they’re just going to delete it if a judge tells them to, then I’ve got a meme coin to sell you.
I know it’s a lot right now, but that’s by design. While it may not seem like it will do much good, people are fighting back. The courts ordered Trump to halt the federal funding freeze, Jamie Raskin is looking into filing a class action lawsuit against Phony Stark, the ACLU is suing over the whole Guantánamo Bay plan, and more.
We’ve filed suit against the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Government Efficiency. We are asking the court to block data sharing and force DOGE to destroy any downloaded sensitive data from the OPM database.
— Electronic Frontier Foundation (@eff.org) February 12, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Our case is fairly simple: OPM’s data is extraordinarily sensitive, OPM gave it to DOGE, and this violates the Privacy Act.
— Electronic Frontier Foundation (@eff.org) February 12, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Photo note by CB: Photos are screenshots from Elon Musk’s talk at the Dubai World Government Summit via YouTube/The Independent.
This is so weird. Musk isn’t taking any salary from the federal government so he doesn’t have to face conflict of interest – so that makes him officially what? A private citizen? How does this even work? Maybe he should be sued directly, too.
Yes, Musk should be sued as an individual too. When DOGE started, he and they had no official standing and no security clearances have been done (that I’m aware of).
Ok, so I’m not crazy here. He should be sued directly, if only to force clarification of his position.
He’s currently getting around all that because he was hired at the behest of the President.
That’s not to say all of it isn’t completely insane and almost everything he’s doing is unlawful and/or unconstitutional–and of course there’s a very clear conflict of interest but this is where we are as a country. This is what we are allowing. And Congress is gone–both parties are completely neutered–Dems have no majority and the GOP is just an arm of Trump now. They’ve ceded all their power to a madman and they don’t care as long as they retain their seat.
Agree that he should be sued directly as well but I don’t think he’d care. He’s like Trump in that he loves the fight plus he has limitless resources to fight it. He should still get sued on principle though.
and there is a clear conflict of interest, even if there is no salary-the government just signed a 400 million dollar contract for armoured teslas. how can that not be seen as a conflict (not coming at you, @Eurydice, just ranting out loud!).
@kitten-and he has so much money, even if he were sued, who could outlast him in court? these people don’t care about consequences because there are none. when you have half a trillion dollars at your disposal, why care about anything (don’t mind me-just having an existential crisis).
Exactly. The most powerful man in the world (planet?) has taken over our country and it seems we are powerless to stop him.
There is no contract to buy armored Teslas. The State Department had a contract under the Biden administration to buy $400 million in EV armored vehicles. Somehow reports got around that they would be Teslas and the State Department has since suspended their plans.
@eurydice. thanks for clarifying that. it’s so hard to stay on top of everything that’s happening. when i read your post i went and googled it. the top two results were the times and npr, and they both said different things. i do still think there is a deep conflict given musks’s companies get government subsidies.
Can we add his minions to the lawsuit, as well?
I’m so proud of Jamie Raskin!
I can’t help thinking though, that once some of these walls are breached, there’s really no way to repair it, and possibly no way to know for sure that data hasn’t been copied or used in some way.
I’ve applied for Federal jobs. I’ve had short term Federal jobs. I’ve had my fingerprints taken for non-Federal jobs. I pay taxes. That’s a lot of data. Every day I feel more and more vulnerable in the face of this onslaught against American citizens— and it hasn’t even been a month yet.
I have been very very pleased with the Maryland delegation’s response. They have been very loud and very anti-Musk and Raskin in particular is being very direct and specific in his responses.
i appreciate all the updates you guys post. as you said, there is so much happening right now, it’s hard to keep track, but it’s good to know people are fighting back. i wanted to mention the SAVE act here, because i haven’t heard much about it, and everyone i’ve told about it hasn’t heard of it. it’s a voter registration act that would require a passport or birth certificate to register or re-register to vote. it would immediately disenfranchise millions of people (vast majority women) who have changed their name: the act would require the name on your birth certificate to match the name you’re registered to vote under. state real ids would not be accepted. the young, the poor and women would be most affected.
i don’t know if links work: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/save-act-would-undermine-voter-registration-all-americans
The SAVE Act is going to blow up at some point, and there is a lot of misinformation going around about it. A lot of Republican women have been arguing all of the usual talking points that they willing accepted without verifying or thinking about circumstances beyond just theirs. Real IDs are mentioned as accepted in the bill, but they don’t show proof of citizenship and non-citizens are eligible for them.
hi, @Rosie. thank you for the information! the info about the Real IDs is different everywhere I look. it looks like the bill does say ‘consistent with Real ID’, which is kind of vague, i think. a few of the sources i looked at, which are reputable said Real IDs wouldn’t be allowed. it’s all so confusing to stay on top of. i appreciate you posting!
My daughter does medical research on childhood development—trying to track kids as they age from 12-21. This study is being done jointly among multiple major medical centers across the country. They were recently notified that they had to stop asking any questions about gender, sexuality, and discrimination. It’s all beyond disturbing, and I’m extremely happy that people are fighting back.
Federal employees who have been vetted and trained on handling confidential data are restricted in what they can access and the data is siloed. The person who can access Medicare data cannot access Center for Disease Control Data or Bureau of Prisons data. Even when a researcher is allowed to combine or access data, they are never allowed access to raw data and the level of access can be limited by clearance approvals. My sister – a Medicaid attorney, is very proud of telling researchers at Los Alamos that their security measures weren’t up to her standards for the data they requested. Muskrat and his hackers have not only accessed all this data but they accessed it in raw form and uploaded it onto their own servers . None of us are safe from them.
the coast guard has just announced a huge data breach of direct deposit information for over a thousand people
I’m thinking that citizens should get together and file a class action lawsuit against him too. He cannot get away with this shit.
Thank you for embedding from Bluesky! I know it’s hard, but I’m happy to see some of my favorite sites shift away from using Tweets.
Is there any way that we can support these people taking these crooks to court? I want to support them any way that I can and others should too!
Click on the source link above to Electronic Frontier Foundation. Or type http://www.eff.org into your preferred browser. Then click “Donate.” Or send a paper check via postal mail to Electronic Frontier Foundation, 815 Eddy Street, San Francisco, CA 94109, USA.
EFF is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit, tax ID #04-3091431.
I just want to second the comment above that Electronic Frontier Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit that you can donate to. It’s a great organization and has been fighting for our privacy and rights for over 20 years. When I first graduated law school in 2000 I knew folks who were going to work there, and they have consistently done fantastic work on all of our behalf. Support them with your $$$$!!
According to alt forest service, Musk is in fact charging millions for DOGE work expenses (should be DOGI, dept of inefficiency). Then the fraud of the cyber trucks contract for military vehicles. Google “cyber truck owed by Ford”, these dumb trucks are good for a Cali freeway at best, not military… the grifting is unreal! Also the rampant endangerment to citizens is horrendous on all fronts with this bro.