DOGE wants access to your tax and Social Security data. These two laws are supposed to protect you

Reports of the Department of Government Efficiency’s so-called “tech bros” accessing federal systems that hold vast troves of Americans’ personal data have raised many questions about whether they can legally see – never mind copy, alter or share – such sensitive details on hundreds of millions of people.

Reports of the Department of Government Efficiency’s so-called “tech bros” accessing federal systems that hold vast troves of Americans’ personal data have raised many questions about whether they can legally see – never mind copy, alter or share – such sensitive details on hundreds of millions of people. Efforts by DOGE to get access to the reams of “personally identifiable information” (PII) on individuals housed at the IRS, Social Security Administration, Office of Personnel Management, Department of Education and other federal agencies – not to mention the federal payments system at Treasury – are now the subject more than a dozen lawsuits. (And in at least two, judges have granted temporary restraining orders on DOGE getting access to some sensitive data.) With very few exceptions, much remains unclear about DOGE’s activities and aims at each agency with respect to Americans’ personal data, and what, if any, security vetting (e.g., background checks, finger-printing) DOGE members have undergone. The courts will have to decide whether what DOGE is doing is legal. In determining that, they will have to assess whether any of several laws designed to protect your personal data at federal agencies and to protect the integrity of their systems have been violated. Two of the most frequently cited are the Privacy Act of 1974 and Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code. The Privacy Act “is designed to prevent government from misusing information about individuals in government files,” said DC-based attorney Cornish Hitchcock, who specializes in matters pertaining to the Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information Act. It was created in the wake of US involvement in the Vietnam War, during which time the FBI had been compiling dossiers on anti-war activists. And it came after the Watergate tapes revealed that then-President Richard Nixon wanted to weaponize the IRS and have an IRS commissioner he chose “go after our enemies and not go after our friends.”