Stephen Skeap

And I'm Michelle Martin. Remember, you can listen to this podcast sponsor-free while financially supporting public media with Up First Plus. Learn more at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So the big thing I want to talk about here is the Privacy Act. It was passed in 1974, and that's a lot of the backbone of these lawsuits challenging Doge's access. Congress decided 50 years ago that there shouldn't be this so-called God mode in government, and there shouldn't be the ability for politicians

So the big thing I want to talk about here is the Privacy Act. It was passed in 1974, and that's a lot of the backbone of these lawsuits challenging Doge's access. Congress decided 50 years ago that there shouldn't be this so-called God mode in government, and there shouldn't be the ability for politicians

So the big thing I want to talk about here is the Privacy Act. It was passed in 1974, and that's a lot of the backbone of these lawsuits challenging Doge's access. Congress decided 50 years ago that there shouldn't be this so-called God mode in government, and there shouldn't be the ability for politicians

one person or a small group of people to be able to access virtually anything and everything about somebody that the federal government keeps. I mean, there's social security numbers, employment information, you've got immigration information, bank accounts.

one person or a small group of people to be able to access virtually anything and everything about somebody that the federal government keeps. I mean, there's social security numbers, employment information, you've got immigration information, bank accounts.

one person or a small group of people to be able to access virtually anything and everything about somebody that the federal government keeps. I mean, there's social security numbers, employment information, you've got immigration information, bank accounts.

The thing I want people to realize about this is that there is so much that we entrust to the federal government and federal agency data-wise that individually doesn't say that much. But now there are people affiliated with Doge that have access to that information and also have access to the Social Security Administration and your social security number and any statements and benefits.

The thing I want people to realize about this is that there is so much that we entrust to the federal government and federal agency data-wise that individually doesn't say that much. But now there are people affiliated with Doge that have access to that information and also have access to the Social Security Administration and your social security number and any statements and benefits.

The thing I want people to realize about this is that there is so much that we entrust to the federal government and federal agency data-wise that individually doesn't say that much. But now there are people affiliated with Doge that have access to that information and also have access to the Social Security Administration and your social security number and any statements and benefits.

And so even if they don't use it that way, we are now at a point where a small handful of people could build dossiers on people and do who knows what with it. And that's something that has concerned people across the ideological spectrum who are very much worried about privacy.

And so even if they don't use it that way, we are now at a point where a small handful of people could build dossiers on people and do who knows what with it. And that's something that has concerned people across the ideological spectrum who are very much worried about privacy.

And so even if they don't use it that way, we are now at a point where a small handful of people could build dossiers on people and do who knows what with it. And that's something that has concerned people across the ideological spectrum who are very much worried about privacy.

So the National Labor Relations Board is just a small pocket inside the federal government. But we have some of the most detailed looks at what Doge is doing and how they're doing it because of this whistleblower and also because of more than a dozen lawsuits.

So the National Labor Relations Board is just a small pocket inside the federal government. But we have some of the most detailed looks at what Doge is doing and how they're doing it because of this whistleblower and also because of more than a dozen lawsuits.

So the National Labor Relations Board is just a small pocket inside the federal government. But we have some of the most detailed looks at what Doge is doing and how they're doing it because of this whistleblower and also because of more than a dozen lawsuits.

These are federal court cases that I'm tracking and a handful of agencies challenging how Doge has access to the sensitive data there and the fact that they even have access to the data at all. Individually, these cases paint isolated pictures about employee one having access to database one here and so on and so forth.