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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

#381

Post by mexicocitinluez »

snickerbockers wrote: post #48

So how is this any different from all the random employees who might have access to this data as part of their jobs? I would understand if there was this sort of scrutiny over every federal employee but as it stands I never know who has access to my data and if they can be trusted.

> So how is this any different from all the random employees who might have access to this data as part of their jobs?

Are you asking why it's any different a non-American billionaire who has multipole government contracts having access to your data any different than Joe Bob who was hired and vetted by those same people unlike the other guy?

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

#382

Post by ck2 »

Federal level government is not a startup

Breaking things will destroy lives if not literally kill people

If it was this "easy" someone would have made a proposal years ago even if it was turned down

And Congress, not ANY President controls spending

We do not elect Kings in this country, there was an entire very brutal war to make it that way

This data is going to leak if it's not copied already into insecure sources and every foreign adversary is going to have it

Cannot be undone

And there should be investigations and prosecutions for this to prevent it ever happening again by ANY President

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

#383

Post by _1tem »

randerson wrote: post #357
lucasRW wrote: post #99

Isn't this the idea of an audit ?...

An audit only needs read access, not God mode. It should be conducted by a neutral third party, not someone on a witch hunt who has conflicts of interest. The people on the ground should have auditing qualifications, clear background checks, and knowledge of specific systems or processes, not a random 19-year-old named "Big Balls" with a history of selling company secrets to a competitor. Their findings should go thr…

Ah, so more bureaucracy, bureaucracy, bureaucracy.

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

#385

Post by bdd8f1df777b »

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…

Bureaucracy is always risk averse. Without outside intervention, they will always try to operate as before.

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

#386

Post by CyrsBel »

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.

CAT should audit DOGE.

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

#387

Post by mexicocitinluez »

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?

> If _anyone_ in the executive branch has access to information, it feels like the presidents office should too.

Are you an idiot? Can you point to the last time some foreigner was given access to American's personal data without any oversight?

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

#388

Post by sanderjd »

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…

Not always. Both the Digital Service and 18F appear to be (to have been...) good faith efforts to apply state of the art system engineering to the federal bureaucracy, and quite successfully.

This is just one administration co-opted by one anti social elite to do the opposite. Don't extrapolate it out. Place blame where blame is deserved.

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

#389

Post by sanderjd »

justin66 wrote: post #321
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)

Right. Even random would be more principled.

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

#390

Post by jonstewart »

scarab92 wrote: post #104
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?

[dupe]

I concur, but White House staff that are not confirmed by Congress have limits placed on their power when dealing with some agencies (as legislated by Congress) and there are of course many other laws and regulations pertaining to information security (FISMA), security clearances, data privacy, employee protections, and so on that I would expect such a White House functionary to respect.
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