The Electronic Frontier Foundation, as well as several unions of federal employees, have has filed a legal action Against Elon Musk and his team from the Government Ministry (DOGE) to block their access to sensitive information and identifying millions of Americans. More specifically, the complainants seek to prevent them from being able to access the data stored by the staff management office (OPM) and delete all the information they have collected so far. The trial also appoints the OPM and the acting director Charles Ezell as defendants.
At the beginning of February, Reuters reported that Musk aid had locked OPM employees from the agency systems. "We have no visibility on what they do with the computer and the data systems," One of its sources said at the time. The OPM has the largest collection of data from employees in the United States and contains sensitive information on past and current federal employees, as well as candidates for federal positions that have applied via USAJOBS.GOV. As the EFF, agency’s files contain the names of federal employees, birth dates, domestic addresses, social security numbers, work experience, union activities, wages, journals Performance, demotions, life insurance, death services as well as classified information from NDA. The list even includes the names and initials of surnames of CIA employees in very sensitive roles.
In its advertisement, the EFF explained that mismanagement of information in OPM systems could lead to "Significant and varied abuses," And this Doge’s "uncontrolled access" De himself puts federal employees at risk of privacy violations and even political pressure and blackmail. The Foundation has also highlighted the risks that federal employees are faced with Doge’s access to unrestricted information and the property of Musk from X. He cited the ancient Musk tweets appointing specific government personalities of which he would cut the Jobs even before having access to the OPM database.
OPM violated the 1974 law on privacy when he gave in Doge "Wholesale access without restriction" To its systems, declared the eff. Under the privacy law, the written consent of the person whose data is shared are necessary if government files must be disclosed. Meanwhile, the complainants accuse musk and its Doges agents of exceeding "the extent of their legal authority" By controlling OPM systems because it led to the illegal disclosure of their content. "Our case is quite simple: OPM data is extraordinarily sensitive, OPM gave it to Doge, and it violates the law on privacy," The effli had written. "We ask the court to block any other data sharing and demand that Doge immediately destroy all copies of the downloaded equipment." Last week, a federal judge blocked musk and the Doge Access the Treasury Department Information and ordered them to destroy the data they have already collected.
This article originally appeared on engadget to
