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Unchecked and Unaccountable: How DOGE Jeopardizes Americans' Data

76 points by defrost 1y ago

SoftTalker 1y ago
OPM exposed all my data years ago and other agencies are likely just as leaky.
- CaliforniaKarl 1y ago
  Hence making sure to call out any time information is leaked, or bad practices are followed.
jandrewrogers 1y ago
Social Security data is mostly public information, de facto if not literally. Lexis-Nexis has effectively maintained a mirror of SSA for many decades that probably has higher data quality than the original. SSA inexplicably changed my basic immutable information many years ago but the process of getting it fixed is so onerous that I've basically given up at this point. The amount of theater around Social Security numbers is baffling.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  We used to print them on personal checks. They weren’t considered to be any kind of secret until the internet happened.
  - mouse_ 1y ago
    Try 1989, with the advent of the standardized credit score.
- CaliforniaKarl 1y ago
  Before I started college I had to create an account in University systems. Doing so involved making a telnet connection to a random server, and providing my Social Security Number. That was fine then. It is no longer fine. Things change.
- roxolotl 1y ago
  It’s not really baffling. Banks use knowledge of them as proof of identity. Obviously that’s a horrible idea and was explicitly advised against by the social security administration. We’re in a world where the security is necessary regardless of whether it should be in an ideal world.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
- immibis 1y ago
  [flagged]
bix6 1y ago
> Peters’ report includes multiple whistleblower disclosures that DOGE staff have copied Americans’ sensitive Social Security and employment data into a cloud database without any verified security controls I hope someone puts these repugnant clowns behind bars in the next admin.
- exasperaited 1y ago
  One of the great challenges that any government succeeding what is happening now will face is that almost every single official who is in office at the point that they take over will be culpable for some sort of federal crime; the scale of lawbreaking is breathtaking. Many presidential appointments are structured so that their terms outlast the president in question; Biden kept Chris Wray on, for example. But that simply won’t work this time, because these people are loyal to Trump first; that is what he demands. It is impossible to imagine any Democratic or national unity president keeping Kash Patel in his job, or Brendan Carr in his, or whoever Trump finally installs at the Federal Reserve. Whoever takes over from Trump would legitimately have to purge and criminally charge essentially everyone he hired, and many, many people they hired, all the way down the chain. It would be the right thing to do but it will seem indistinguishable from what Trump is currently doing under false pretences. Even assuming Trump does not simply die of or retire from old age or ill health in office, he himself is essentially untouchable. So to his remaining supporters it will look like an unfair proxy war against him, targeting his employees and loyalists. Nothing is ever going to go back to the way it was before, and I think people will have to steel themselves for the possibility that the only thing that will provide any sort of foundation for rebuilding the federal USA is some sort of truth and reconciliation commission, and these people will, in fact, have to get away without meaningful sanction if the full truth is to be known. Apart from that, the only solution will be to dissolve the union and start from scratch.
  - nebula8804 1y ago
    Everything you wrote makes sense: Heres just one more opinion: The Bush supporters were as confident and cocky as the current Trump supporters. The GFC set them straight and enough of them got desperate they elected a black man. Instead of dissolving the union (which probably wouldn't benefit the owner class) just wait until the next financial catastrophe to hit and watch those Trump signs go into the trash and those people to hide in their caves for at least a year or three.
tetrisgm 1y ago
Has it not already happened? Either way as a civilian I am unable to do anything. Just need to wait for a legal case.
ChrisArchitect 1y ago
From over a week ago; Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376781

76 points by defrost 1y ago

SoftTalker 1y ago

OPM exposed all my data years ago and other agencies are likely just as leaky.

CaliforniaKarl 1y ago
Hence making sure to call out any time information is leaked, or bad practices are followed.

jandrewrogers 1y ago

Social Security data is mostly public information, de facto if not literally. Lexis-Nexis has effectively maintained a mirror of SSA for many decades that probably has higher data quality than the original. SSA inexplicably changed my basic immutable information many years ago but the process of getting it fixed is so onerous that I've basically given up at this point. The amount of theater around Social Security numbers is baffling.

SoftTalker 1y ago
We used to print them on personal checks. They weren’t considered to be any kind of secret until the internet happened.
- mouse_ 1y ago
  Try 1989, with the advent of the standardized credit score.
CaliforniaKarl 1y ago
Before I started college I had to create an account in University systems. Doing so involved making a telnet connection to a random server, and providing my Social Security Number. That was fine then. It is no longer fine. Things change.
roxolotl 1y ago
It’s not really baffling. Banks use knowledge of them as proof of identity. Obviously that’s a horrible idea and was explicitly advised against by the social security administration. We’re in a world where the security is necessary regardless of whether it should be in an ideal world.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

immibis 1y ago
[flagged]

bix6 1y ago

> Peters’ report includes multiple whistleblower disclosures that DOGE staff have copied Americans’ sensitive Social Security and employment data into a cloud database without any verified security controls I hope someone puts these repugnant clowns behind bars in the next admin.

exasperaited 1y ago
One of the great challenges that any government succeeding what is happening now will face is that almost every single official who is in office at the point that they take over will be culpable for some sort of federal crime; the scale of lawbreaking is breathtaking. Many presidential appointments are structured so that their terms outlast the president in question; Biden kept Chris Wray on, for example. But that simply won’t work this time, because these people are loyal to Trump first; that is what he demands. It is impossible to imagine any Democratic or national unity president keeping Kash Patel in his job, or Brendan Carr in his, or whoever Trump finally installs at the Federal Reserve. Whoever takes over from Trump would legitimately have to purge and criminally charge essentially everyone he hired, and many, many people they hired, all the way down the chain. It would be the right thing to do but it will seem indistinguishable from what Trump is currently doing under false pretences. Even assuming Trump does not simply die of or retire from old age or ill health in office, he himself is essentially untouchable. So to his remaining supporters it will look like an unfair proxy war against him, targeting his employees and loyalists. Nothing is ever going to go back to the way it was before, and I think people will have to steel themselves for the possibility that the only thing that will provide any sort of foundation for rebuilding the federal USA is some sort of truth and reconciliation commission, and these people will, in fact, have to get away without meaningful sanction if the full truth is to be known. Apart from that, the only solution will be to dissolve the union and start from scratch.
- nebula8804 1y ago
  Everything you wrote makes sense: Heres just one more opinion: The Bush supporters were as confident and cocky as the current Trump supporters. The GFC set them straight and enough of them got desperate they elected a black man. Instead of dissolving the union (which probably wouldn't benefit the owner class) just wait until the next financial catastrophe to hit and watch those Trump signs go into the trash and those people to hide in their caves for at least a year or three.

tetrisgm 1y ago

Has it not already happened? Either way as a civilian I am unable to do anything. Just need to wait for a legal case.

ChrisArchitect 1y ago

From over a week ago; Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376781 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376781