EFF Sues DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management to Halt Ransacking of Federal Data

Deeplinks 2025-02-11

Summary:

EFF and a coalition of privacy defenders have filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the private information of millions of Americans that is stored by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and to delete any data that has been collected or removed from databases thus far. The lawsuit also names OPM, and asks the court to block OPM from sharing further data with DOGE.

The Plaintiffs who have stepped forward to bring this lawsuit include individual federal employees as well as multiple employee unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees and the Association of Administrative Law Judges.

This brazen ransacking of Americans’ sensitive data is unheard of in scale. With our co-counsel Lex Lumina, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and the Chandra Law Firm, we represent current and former federal employees whose privacy has been violated. We are asking the court for a temporary restraining order to immediately cease this dangerous and illegal intrusion. This massive trove of information includes private demographic data and work histories of essentially all current and former federal employees and contractors as well as federal job applicants. Access is restricted by the federal Privacy Act of 1974. Last week, a federal judge temporarily blocked DOGE from accessing a critical Treasury payment system under a similar lawsuit

The mishandling of this information could lead to such significant and varied abuses that they are impossible to detail. 

What’s in OPM’s Databases?

The data housed by OPM is extraordinarily sensitive for several reasons. The federal government is the nation’s largest employer, and OPM’s records are one of the largest, if not the largest, collection of employee data in the country. In addition to personally identifiable information such as names, social security numbers, and demographics, it includes work experience, union activities, salaries, performance, and demotions; health information like life insurance and health benefits; financial information like death benefit designations and savings programs; and classified information nondisclosure agreements. It holds records for millions of federal workers and millions more Americans who have applied for federal jobs. 

The mishandling of this information could lead to such significant and varied abuses that they are impossible to detail. On its own, DOGE’s unchecked access puts the safety of all federal employees at risk of everything from privacy violations to political pressure to blackmail to targeted attacks. Last year, Elon Musk publicly disclosed the names of specific government employees whose jobs he claimed he would cut before he had access to the system. He has also targeted at least one former employee of Twitter. With unrestricted access to OPM data, and with his ownership of the social media platform X, federal employees are at serious risk.

And that’s just the danger from disclosure of the data on individuals. OPM’s records could give an overview of various functions of entire government agencies and branches. Regardless of intention, the law makes it clear that this data is carefully protected and cannot be shared indiscriminately.

In late January, OPM reportedly sent about two million federal employees its "Fork in the Road" form email introducing a “deferred resignation” program. This is a visible way in which the data could be used; OPMs databases contain the email addresses for every federal employee. 

How the Privacy Act Protects Americans’ Data

Under the Privacy Act of 1974, disclosure of government records about individuals generally requires the written consent of the individual whose data is being shared, with few exceptions

Congress passed the Privacy Act in response to a crisis of confidence in the government as a result of scandals including Watergate and the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). The Privacy Act, like the Foreign Intelligence S

Link:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/02/eff-sues-doge-and-office-personnel-management-halt-ransacking-federal-data

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Tags:

privacy

Authors:

Jason Kelley

Date tagged:

02/11/2025, 18:58

Date published:

02/11/2025, 14:38