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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

#281

Post by paulluuk »

scarab92 wrote: post #273
javcasas wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[flagged]

> they are not linking personal data between agencies

> Trump has prohibited Musk from being involved in with the review in agencies where he was a material conflict

I'm not saying these are or aren't happening, but it seems like a lot of "good faith" assumptions here. If you assume Musk is an unethical actor, these seem mostly meaningless.

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

#284

Post by theodric »

pjc50 wrote: post #254
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.

While I agree in principle, that's not an entirely intellectually honest evaluation. The government is prohibited from creating an electronic registry of guns, not because of the guns themselves, but ultimately because of the judicial understanding of the Second Amendment confirming (not granting) an inherent right of citizens to possess them. The restriction is in service to the gun owners by protecting them from government overreach. The guns are merely a layer of abstraction on that.

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

#285

Post by ksynwa »

rsynnott wrote: post #125
ksynwa wrote: post #3

What's Elon's beef with USAID? I would think he would go after something like food stamps first owing to his libertarian ethos. Maybe he sees USAID as a completely benevolent handout and a waste of money? I cannot begin to understand why.

‘Libertarian ethos’. The guy who’s hoovering up personal data on behalf of a guy who just claimed to be king, that one? Like, how are we defining ‘libertarian’ here?

I didn't mean it too seriously. Just with regard to how one point in the ideology is about governments being small and how DOGE is at least in rhetoric trying to fire federal employees en masse.

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

#286

Post by karel-3d »

lurker616 wrote: post #241
phire wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My brain immediately latched on to how much control could be exerted through the guise of "efficiency", you could effetely run a whole government from there. But I was expecting more installing a bunch of so-called "efficiency officers" in every department to report back when they weren't being loyal... er efficient. I was not expecting the complete takeover of computer networks and rapid firing of large numbers of e…

Musk has basically discovered that you can ignore existing laws, since by the time lawyers sue and courts order injunctions, it'll be too late and too expensive. Especially when lawyers can argue against basic facts like "Musk doesn't head DOGE". It's the same playbook as the twitter layoffs - when you are so rich, you don't need to care about laws.

Move fast, break things.

Easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.

YOLO.

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

#287

Post by rollcat »

scarab92 wrote: post #273
javcasas wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[flagged]

The ends do not justify the means.

These means can easily lead to a nightmare. We've been through that a century ago. Look up Dehomag. Never Again.

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

#288

Post by javcasas »

scarab92 wrote: post #273
javcasas wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[flagged]

> they are parallelising the work

That's an interesting rephrasing for "sidestepping all security to get access".

> The access is read only, and they are not linking personal data between agencies

Yup, that's exacly what someone who wants to change the beneficiaries of a few contracts and payments, as well as fire some of the people overseeing my companies would say.

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

#289

Post by recpai »

scarab92 wrote: post #273
javcasas wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[flagged]

Since you seem to know what you are talking about:

I am a bit confused by your stressing the access is read-only. Isn't that obviously given (apologies for the redundant words, but I really don't know how to convey my confusion). For what purpose they could ever be given a write access to the hundreds of federal databases they are supposed to analyze?

Also, if they don't have the manpower to go over the data one by one then they don't have the power to go over them in parallel. When you say "parallelising the work" what exactly does that mean? What is it specifically that they are "parallelising"? Is there an engineer/analyst looking at multiple screens simultaneously and arriving conclusions for multiple agencies at the same time?

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

#290

Post by amarcheschi »

trymas wrote: post #108
mandmandam wrote: post #56

The moment they had physical access to the system, it was necessary to assume this. It's called an 'evil maid' attack, and of all communities this one should have been blowing the whistle. Loudly, repeatedly, and in open defiance of people who argue that this is a storm in a teacup, a non issue, just another MOT, etc. Especially when you look at the background of the Doge team - 'ex' hackers, 'security specialists',…

> Perhaps surprisingly, the CEO of YC and Paul Graham have been publicly supportive of the DOGE team, despite all the racism and existential threat. I don't know if that's from fear, or greed, but there are strong arguments for both. > … > If discussing this openly and often this isn't possible due to very simple flag abuse, then what is this community actually even worth. Just want to add to this topic that HN adver…

It would be fun if someone did the funni at him there
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