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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

#321

Post by justin66 »

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…

> IMHO it's a bit of a shame that the productivity and efficiency gains that computing and cybernetics can bring to complex systems

They're just firing people at random, they haven't discovered any innovative new way to make systems more efficient.

("at random" is a bit generous and ignores the retaliation against political adversaries)

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

#322

Post by matwood »

WesternWind wrote: post #188
scarab92 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dupe]

See I know something of what actually wanting to fix the government's waste fraud and abuse would look like. It would be beefing up the IRS (where every dollar more than pays for itself), it would be banning people in congress from buying individual stocks; it would be a lot of things that deeply nerdy policy wonks have been saying for years. That's not what I'm seeing happen. I'm not seeing cost benefit analysis, I'…

> See I know something of what actually wanting to fix the government's waste fraud and abuse would look like. It would be beefing up the IRS (where every dollar more than pays for itself), it would be banning people in congress from buying individual stocks; it would be a lot of things that deeply nerdy policy wonks have been saying for years.

Where can I vote for these changes??

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

#323

Post by ben_w »

RichardLake wrote: post #105
drowsspa wrote: post #18

I find it wild that apparently there is no law onto which government workers can cling to refuse these requests. Is it all just based on conventions, goodwill and culture?

The enforcement of these laws should be a function of the executive. There are ways for the supreme court or congress to intervene when the executive isn't doing their job. Sadly that requires them to believe a series of checks and balances is necessary. Given that it is down to the voters, and they thought a racist, rapist, conman should be president giving them the power of the executive - which has been growing in…

> Given that it is down to the voters, and they thought a racist, rapist, conman should be president

And multiply-bankrupt, and (on the second term) multiply-convicted felon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_and_business_legal_af...

Vox populi, vox Dei, but unfortunately the Deus in question is Κοάλεμος

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

#324

Post by onemoresoop »

dzdt wrote: post #320

Related to a comment on a now-flagged subthread: can anyone who believes that DOGE is uncovering fraud please post a reliable reference that gives a specific example of fraud uncovered by DOGE? To be clear, this should be a third-party analysis of some credibility, not DOGE's or Musk's twitter feed or "receipts" website which shows cancelled contracts with no clear link to fraudulent activity.

They will twist the narrative and not provide any evidence. I appreciate your request but please don’t be naive. Have you heard of trolling?

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

#326

Post by account42 »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #152
jpcom wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you want them to refuse audit requests? There is no upside to hiding egregious government waste other than paying politicians via kickbacks more than what is legally mandated.

Same reason you won’t send me the credentials to your bank accounts.

I will however gladly send all credentials to my work-related accounts to authorized individuals in my company (with appropriate verification of course).

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

#328

Post by mapt »

femto wrote: post #183
InsideOutSanta wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are laws, but you will get fired if you try to follow them, and lawsuits to remedy that take time. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/usaid-sec...

Is it true to say that in practise there are no laws here? If anyone in DOGE breaks the law, can't the President just issue a blanket pardon? If the President himself breaks the law, he argues that it was in the course of his official duties [1]. [1] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-939_e2pg.pdf

There is a principal in democracy that there Should Not Be strong institutions that prevent a majority of the population from harming itself with its choices. We balance that against a Supreme Court in the US, but that court is almost uniquely powerful & active in forming policy relative to its place in the rest of the world, and right now, most of it has been appointed by fascists; Ultimately the population will have its say in the long term.

Do you want an extra-democratic body who is capable of telling the population "No"?

I think such a body (which exists in some system) would obviously be nice right now, but I am a lot less convinced that it would be a net positive in general.

If we want to find our way out of this, I suspect a lot of people are going to need to feel directly harmed by this administration, and are going to need to basically erect a strong protest culture out of whole cloth. Something like 5% of the population in the streets can topple an authoritarian regime in the right circumstances, but not the 0.5% we might expect for a "large" protest.

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

#329

Post by mrbigbob »

greenie_beans wrote: post #327

i hope they try to use cjis data bc it's taken me 6 months to build a system that is technically compliant and it still doesn't fully pass. they definitely will fail the data security policy requirements.

This isnt a dig at you but something i have noticed over the last few weeks. People keep saying X/Y wont be able to do something because of rules, laws, requirements and i have to keep reminding people rules/laws are only as good as those willing to enforce them

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

#330

Post by Gerardo1 »

potato3732842 wrote: post #300
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…

[flagged]

> who are pushing things in dumb directions because their careers and wealth are tied to what they do for work so they advocated for those things to be advanced to the point of absurdity and everyone on their coat tails cheers for it because they benefit too.

Could you give a concrete example of what you're describing there?

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