The lawsuit has revealed how much private data DOGE employees have been granted access to in the SSA’s databases, which contain a great deal of sensitive information about the majority of Americans.
Washington,United States: Elon Musk’s assistants are prohibited from accessing the private data of millions of Americans stored in the computer systems of the Social Security Administration, according to a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge on Thursday.
According to US District Judge Ellen Hollander of Maryland, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency had not demonstrated that they needed the “unprecedented, unfettered access” to the SSA’s data in order to fulfil their professed objective of exposing fraud.
Last month, Hollander issued a temporary restraining order that limited DOGE’s access to SSA data; however, the injunction was set to expire on Thursday. While the case is pending, the preliminary injunction keeps the limits in place for a longer period of time.
The two labour unions and an advocacy group that filed a lawsuit against SSA, Musk, DOGE, and others in February in an attempt to prevent DOGE members from accessing some of the agency’s most sensitive data systems have won the injunction.
Hollander predicted that the plaintiffs would be successful in their allegation that DOGE employees had breached privacy rules in their numerous attempts to obtain data thus far and that an injunction was required to shield Americans from “irreparable harm.”
“SSA has operated on the fundamental tenet of an expectation of privacy with regard to its records for around nine decades. “A broad crack in the foundation is revealed by this case,” Hollander wrote in her 145-page decision.
Former Democratic President Barack Obama nominated Hollander to the federal bench. Trump is a Republican president. “SSA has operated on the fundamental tenet of an expectation of privacy with regard to its records for around nine decades. “A broad crack in the foundation is revealed by this case,” Hollander wrote in her 145-page decision.
Former Democratic President Barack Obama nominated Hollander to the federal bench. Trump is a Republican president.
