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DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

theatlantic.com

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Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#251

Post by ffsm8 »

glutamate wrote: post #210
eecc wrote: post #201

IMHO it's a bit of a shame that the productivity and efficiency gains that computing and cybernetics can bring to complex systems -- including government -- are always tainted and currently championed by anti-social elites that use them to break apart these collective machines. Bureaucracies are a common good, and it should be in everyone's interest to apply state-of-the-art system engineering to make them as valuabl…

Didn't know Max Weber was lurking on HN.

It's true if you're ignoring the no-true-scottman fallacy.

Bureaucracy doesn't have to be to the detriment of society. As a matter of fact, it can potentially put breaks on the worst exploitative behavior.

But over time... It has the potential to grow too much with bad legislation, effectively making the positive potential into a very real negative that stifles unnecessarily.

Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#252

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

borgster wrote: post #216

The President is the head of the executive branch. If _anyone_ in the executive branch has access to information, it feels like the presidents office should too. Why is this hard to accept?

Because it's Musk following his own agenda and he apparently isn't the president

Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#253

Post by [deleted] »

amelius wrote: post #154
maCDzP wrote: post #110

European here, giving my two cents on how this looks from the other side of the Atlantic. Heh In my country there are laws stopping agencies doing a simple SQL join between two databases, even within the same government agency. There is a separate agency that handles the requests when agencies want to join information. I am not an expert in the matter. But my gut is telling me that our experiences with east Germany a…

That's putting it mildly. What it really looks like is a fast descent into madness.

[deleted]

Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#254

Post by pjc50 »

maCDzP wrote: post #110

European here, giving my two cents on how this looks from the other side of the Atlantic. Heh In my country there are laws stopping agencies doing a simple SQL join between two databases, even within the same government agency. There is a separate agency that handles the requests when agencies want to join information. I am not an expert in the matter. But my gut is telling me that our experiences with east Germany a…

This sort of thing already exists in America for cases where Americans actually care about privacy: the gun tracing system is forced to be on paper.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/s-just-insanity-atf-now-needs-2...

Guns are constitutionally protected in a way that humans aren't.

Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#255

Post by hunvreus »

maCDzP wrote: post #110

European here, giving my two cents on how this looks from the other side of the Atlantic. Heh In my country there are laws stopping agencies doing a simple SQL join between two databases, even within the same government agency. There is a separate agency that handles the requests when agencies want to join information. I am not an expert in the matter. But my gut is telling me that our experiences with east Germany a…

What you're describing is very similar to what most large enterprise companies do: layers upon layers of red tape and convoluted regulations for the sake of "security."

This is a big reason they can’t get anything done or retain talent.

Government is no different.

European democracies have been dying from the same sclerosis their legacy multinationals have.

The US is going through actual change. The outrage over things not being done as they always have is nonsensical.

Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#256

Post by throwawayqqq11 »

briandear wrote: post #219
maCDzP wrote: post #110

European here, giving my two cents on how this looks from the other side of the Atlantic. Heh In my country there are laws stopping agencies doing a simple SQL join between two databases, even within the same government agency. There is a separate agency that handles the requests when agencies want to join information. I am not an expert in the matter. But my gut is telling me that our experiences with east Germany a…

When it comes to government spending though, shouldn’t the public have a right to know precisely, with dollar-level accuracy what they are being asked to pay? As far as the experiences of the Stasi and previous German governments, it must not have too much of a scar: Germany still asks people to register their religion — ostensibly for tax purposes, but if I recall correctly, Germany had a problem in the past with ha…

Some insights or decisions cannot or should not be placed on the public, thats why you elect representatives in the firt place. Insight can be granular, like an oversight commitee publishing a redacted report, but i agree on full transparency about anything regarding our representatives.

Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#258

Post by javcasas »

maCDzP wrote: post #110

European here, giving my two cents on how this looks from the other side of the Atlantic. Heh In my country there are laws stopping agencies doing a simple SQL join between two databases, even within the same government agency. There is a separate agency that handles the requests when agencies want to join information. I am not an expert in the matter. But my gut is telling me that our experiences with east Germany a…

Do you know why in Portugal they have 4 different ID numbers?

It is like that to prevent the state from persecuting people on the base that it is hard for a branch of the government to figure out who is someone based on a number from a different branch.

Do you know why they want to prevent the government from persecuting people?

Because it has already happened, and the portuguese don't want it to happen again.

Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#259

Post by scarab92 »

hunvreus wrote: post #255
maCDzP wrote: post #110

European here, giving my two cents on how this looks from the other side of the Atlantic. Heh In my country there are laws stopping agencies doing a simple SQL join between two databases, even within the same government agency. There is a separate agency that handles the requests when agencies want to join information. I am not an expert in the matter. But my gut is telling me that our experiences with east Germany a…

What you're describing is very similar to what most large enterprise companies do: layers upon layers of red tape and convoluted regulations for the sake of "security." This is a big reason they can’t get anything done or retain talent. Government is no different. European democracies have been dying from the same sclerosis their legacy multinationals have. The US is going through actual change. The outrage over thin…

[flagged]

Re: DOGE has 'god mode' access to government data

#260

Post by javcasas »

hunvreus wrote: post #255
maCDzP wrote: post #110

European here, giving my two cents on how this looks from the other side of the Atlantic. Heh In my country there are laws stopping agencies doing a simple SQL join between two databases, even within the same government agency. There is a separate agency that handles the requests when agencies want to join information. I am not an expert in the matter. But my gut is telling me that our experiences with east Germany a…

What you're describing is very similar to what most large enterprise companies do: layers upon layers of red tape and convoluted regulations for the sake of "security." This is a big reason they can’t get anything done or retain talent. Government is no different. European democracies have been dying from the same sclerosis their legacy multinationals have. The US is going through actual change. The outrage over thin…

Have you heard about Chesterton's fence?
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