US Judge Restricts DOGE From Full Access to SSA Data

(MENAFN) A U.S. federal magistrate has curtailed the powers of the informal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), overseen by tech tycoon Elon Musk, prohibiting its access to vast amounts of personal data held by the Social Security Administration (SSA).

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander issued a temporary legal block in response to a lawsuit filed by labor organizations and retired individuals.

The suit alleges that DOGE’s recent conduct breaches privacy regulations and creates major cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

Under the order, DOGE personnel may only review information that has been censored or made anonymous, and only after undergoing proper training and security screenings.

At a federal hearing in Baltimore earlier in the week, Judge Hollander pressed government lawyers on why DOGE required "seemingly unfettered access" to such confidential records in order to detect Social Security fraud.

She questioned the necessity of retrieving unfiltered data and proposed using anonymized alternatives.

However, Department of Justice representatives countered that such methods would impede their workflow and asserted that DOGE was following routine investigative practices.

Attorneys for the complainants criticized the situation as without precedent, calling it a fundamental departure from standard procedures involving delicate information like medical and psychological records—particularly those connected to "issues that are not only sensitive but might carry a stigma" among at-risk groups such as minors and people with disabilities.

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