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EFF Sues DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management
- honestSysAdmin 2y ago[dead]
- taeric 2y agoHard not to find the news overwhelming at the moment. What is the best source to follow progress on efforts like this? Similarly, is there a good source that contextualizes this in a way other than near unhinged?
- torlok 2y agoThe justice system will be overwhelmed for years, so I don't think you'll see much progress. The current presidency reveals that, with a compliant Congress, the executive branch can execute whatever it wants. By the time the judicial system steps in, the damage will be done. The situation is unhinged with or without context.
- taeric 2y agoThis tracks my view. I'm genuinely curious on how folks are rationalizing this. I see more accidental sane washing than I'm comfortable with. Expecting there is flat out sane washing in some outlets?
- slt2021 2y ago[flagged]
- bdangubic 2y agothis is so funny! if you believe this I have some Enron stock to sell to you, ESPECIALLY the last paragraph…
- slt2021 2y agoI am not a decision maker, I am just eating popcorn and enjoying the entertainment. I would welcome your constructive counter-arguments, though
- bdangubic 2y agoholler back when these below (and other ACTUAL government waste) is being worked on vs. enjoying current TV show by a celebrity reality TV host for easily-entertained masses doing nothing but parading themselves on TV while enriching themselves while you stare at the screen… :) https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musks-us-department-defense-contracts-2025-02-11/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musks-us-department-de...
- slt2021 2y agoElon Musk’s companies provide service: starlink and spacex that nobody else can provide, at contracts started even before trump was elected in 2016. Recent contracts were signed by biden admin, so I dont think there is any nefarious collusion, but rather arms length transaction. You say he is getting rich, I would love some more nuance: is it unfair that he created a company and out-executed everyone including nasa? Would usa be better off without spacex, relying on Russians to launch satellites??? At least he created thousands jobs, created blns in wealth for his shareholders, made some incredible innovations. Compare to usaid, whose only achievement was promoting trans surgeries to children
- bdangubic 2y ago[flagged]
- torlok 2y agoWhat Trump and Musk are doing is picking up pennies by gutting public services citizens rely upon instead of plugging the tax system, and addressing the waste in the military and healthcare industries. The way Trump and Musk operate not only makes enemies out of loyal government employees, it will also cost the government more money once it starts losing in court.
- slt2021 2y agoI as a taxpayer has no trust in the system if bureacrats never show even an ounce of care about taxpayer’s money. Mind you Musk is the biggest taxpayer so he is interested that system spends money wisely
- dttze 2y agoYou realize how much he makes from the government right? You won’t see him making cuts there. You are a rube if you think he will do anything except things to benefit himself.
- slt2021 2y agoHe is not getting handouts, he is doing risky uncertain rocket science that even NASA was unable tondo and gets compensated for risk and hard work
- taeric 2y agoYou aren't necessarily wrong, but this is almost the definition of privatizing the reward over public risk? The grants his companies received were just that, grants. And without those grants, his companies would have likely failed.
- slt2021 2y agothe reward is only obvious today, in the very beginning of SpaceX everyone thought elon was crazy and he had to bet his entire net worth multiple times to overcome early challenges. I wanted to remind you that NASA and ULA that is fully funded by the government, completely fumbled space tech and had to rely on Russian Roscosmos (running ancient soviet era technology) to get to the space. if you want to look where the waste is, look no further than NASA, ULA, Boeing and the rest of the military/space industrial complex
- dialup_sounds 2y ago"Trimming fat" doesn't even pay for extending TCJA, much less the other tax cuts being promised. DOGE is not about reducing the debt.
- ModernMech 2y agoMy prediction is in 2028, after all the cutting, the deficit will look like nothing had ever been done to it and will in fact be worse. At that time, all the people now who are saying we need a lower deficit, will then be saying the spending is justified and necessary.
- Tadpole9181 2y agoThe budget plan got released, you're 3 years off because they're already saying the new spending (tax cuts) is justified and necessary.
- lawn 2y agoAre you aware that they're cutting agencies that make money?
- fsflover 2y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42949277 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42949277
- jalapenos 2y agoThey're clearly covered by the "need to know" exceptions of the Act, no?
- snvzz 2y agoSeems oddly politically motivated and out of character for EFF.
- thrance 2y ago> 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 has unlawful access to tremendous amounts of data on american citizens. Intervening to protect their privacy seems very much in line with the EFF's mission.
- TheNightman 2y agoPlease pardon my ignorance but why is it unlawful for DOGE to be accessing this data? I was under the impression they had proper security clearance and were given lawful access by the president somehow.
- out-of-ideas 2y agoas a hypothetical, if the prez defined 'proper security clearance' as opening up http (unencrypted) access and clicking OKAY on the website (or many with all this data), allowable to anybody on the internet to access said data.. would you be okay that it was happening? my point is that "proper security clearance" is subjective, and as we are observing, (from what i read the other day) "clearance" is given to folks who would have never made passing the clearance checks in the very recent past (lol like a few weeks ago recent past). is it all lawful? time will tell, and thats what EFF and others will try to decide - and good luck if any of that data is ever properly disposed of and not benefited from (aka insider knowledge).
- esbranson 2y agoThe core argument appears to be that DOGE is not a government agency, therefore the rest. Good luck! The case is AFGE, AFL-CIO v. OPM, 1:25-cv-01237 (S.D.N.Y. 2025).[1] [1] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69631573/american-federation-of-government-employees-afl-cio-v-us-office-of/ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69631573/american-feder...