Elon Musk and his cyber bros from the Department of Government Efficiency are rooting around in various government agencies. Maybe when they went after the IRS, that got your attention. But take notice because now they’re knocking at the door of the Social Security Administration.
When it comes to our personal, sensitive information, that’s the mother lode.
A former senior Social Security official described the data at Social Security as being “from cradle to grave.” That’s not hyperbole. So, let’s look at what’s at stake here and what Elon Musk and his brethren potentially want.
We’re not just talking about Social Security numbers, although obviously, that’s a big part of it. The databases also have your name, your address, your birth date, your gender, your marital and parental status, your parents’ names, your lifetime earnings, your bank accounts, your medical conditions, and your immigration status—among other data points.
That’s a lot of information for anybody to have. And all of this is being done in the name of rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse. Even then, there are questions.
Just the other day, Elon Musk said they found millions of names of people who were dead but still receiving Social Security payments, and that was just wrong. Experts say that what Musk was probably looking at was an old database that has a lot of information, including records from as far back as 1920.
The reality, however, is that DOGE is not up to speed on how many of those people are actually dead. So, this idea that nearly 19 million people have been receiving Social Security payments after their death—no. In fact, Social Security says only a minuscule number of such cases happen. It’s not in the millions.
Even so, over the weekend, the head of Social Security resigned rather than opening up the databases to Musk & Co. And now, we’re at a point where lawsuits are pending.
As someone who cares about privacy, I get very alarmed when anybody—whether it’s Elon Musk or anyone else—wants access to this personal information. And as far as Social Security goes, it doesn’t get more sensitive than that.
