If you are concerned about what Elon Musk — or any of the right-wing trolls, bigots and other people he hired at the dubiously titled Department of Government Efficiency — may do with the treasure trove of Americans’ data they’ve accessed, you’re not the only one.
Data that can be used for things like training artificial intelligence tools is extremely valuable — it’s practically a currency of its own these days. And having written about Musk’s data-hungry enterprises, including Tesla and Twitter, I’ve been worried about DOGE’S widespread access to federal data. Those worries aren’t limited to what DOGE staffers could theoretically do with that data, but also what Musk could do with it once he leaves.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., sent a letter to President Donald Trump on Wednesday urging the administration to require that every “special government employee” (like Musk) sign a certification that says they agree not to use any governmental data for personal gain.
“I write to request that you require each Special Government Employee (SGE) to sign a certification that the SGE understands and agrees that no SGE may ever use non-public information from the federal government for their own personal benefit, especially after leaving government service,” she said.
Shaheen listed the broad access Musk’s team already has:
I make this request because there have been numerous reports of SGEs accessing some of the U.S. government’s most sensitive information, including but not limited to data from the Social Security Administration, the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Office of Personnel Management and Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Labor, Health and Human Services and Transportation.
The letter references The Washington Post’s recent reporting about an alarming Trump administration plan to create a centralized system to house Americans’ private information as collected by various federal agencies. Shaheen notes that right-wing, pro-Trump influencer Steve Bannon has also expressed concerns about what Musk and his team could do with the data and has called for Musk to sign a certification agreeing not to use the data for personal gain.
Even FBI Director Kash Patel expressed concern, prior to Musk’s involvement with the government, about the billionaire’s ambition to acquire people’s data. Asked about those remarks by Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota during his confirmation hearing, Patel equivocated but didn’t attempt to walk them back.
I imagine Trump will ultimately put Shaheen’s letter in the same place he’s put other strongly worded letters Democrats have sent the administration. Which is to say, I don’t imagine a president who has shown no aversion to self-enrichment whatsoever and who vowed during his 2024 campaign to “make life good” for Musk and other “smart people” is going to do anything to prevent Musk or DOGE staffers from doing whatever they want with Americans’ data.
The point here is that what is to come from DOGE’s access to Americans’ data should be top of mind for us all. Americans need to familiarize themselves with the concept of “data dignity” and to internalize the importance of protecting their personal information from those who would use it to influence the public or to profit personally.