DOGE: Identifying Transnational Employees in the Digital-Integer-Aided-Digital-Industry Scenario

The use of employee records by DOGE as the means by which they are trying to achieve a number of illegal ends, is one of them. They got a list of all the government employees to make their illegal offer. They have access to this information so they can discriminate against employees who are trans. Lemley said that it laid the foundations for the illegal firings they had seen across multiple departments.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, and Mark Lemley, an intellectual property and tech lawyer who recently dropped Meta as a client in its contentious Artificial Intelligence (AI) copyright lawsuit are all represented by prominent tech industry lawyers.

There’s a risk that this information could be used to identify employees who will be terminated based on improper considerations. There’s information about medical, disability and people’s involvement with unions.

OPM: The Trump Administration Illegally Allowed DOGE to Access Workers’ Data, Litigation Plan and Implications for OPM

The team behind this most recent lawsuit plans to push even further. “This is just phase one, focused on getting an injunction to stop the continuing violation of the law,” says Lemley. The next phase will include filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of impacted federal workers.

Correction, February 11th: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified President Donald Trump as one of the defendants in the lawsuit. He is not directly named as a defendant.

“The White House will continue to fight these battles in court, and we expect to be vindicated,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. The President has the power to act as he pleases, since he has a historic mandate from the American people.

Increased access to OPM information could create new vulnerabilities for that data, experts fear. More than 20 millions of people were compromised in the OPM database breach.

OPM is already facing a separate lawsuit from labor groups over the Trump administration’s “fork in the road” offer of deferred resignation, which promised payment that Congress had not yet appropriated. A federal judge has s0 far delayed the deadline for federal workers to opt to take the offer, pending further consideration by the court.

Source: Trump administration illegally allowed DOGE to access workers’ data, lawsuit alleges

The Verge’s Top Ten Policy Report: An Overview of Antitrust, Privacy, and Content Modulation Reform in the New e-Newton Era

is a senior policy reporter at The Verge, covering Capitol Hill and Silicon Valley. She spent 5 years covering tech policy at CNBC, writing about antitrust, privacy, and content moderation reform.