Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor, has raised concerns about the alleged unauthorized access to personal data by individuals claiming to work for DOGE. This situation has led to a lawsuit challenging the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) disclosure of federal employees' sensitive information. Lemley made these remarks during a podcast appearance on February 25.
"But what happened that precipitated our lawsuit was that a number of people in their late teens and early twenties who purportedly worked for DOGE, who used to work for Elon Musk's companies, might or might not now work for the government, came into the Office of Personnel Management and demanded route administrative access to all of the computer records there," said Lemley, William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. "That means access to the social security numbers, the age, gender identity, and health and a variety of other information kept in personnel records for all federal government employees and all former federal government employees. So these people who purportedly work for DOGE came in and got computer access to all of the computer systems and all of the data."
According to Lemley, DOGE employees, purportedly linked to Elon Musk's other ventures, accessed extensive government data, including Social Security numbers and employment records. This access reportedly resulted in firings and potential security breaches. The lawsuit argues that DOGE was not authorized to access this data under the Privacy Act.
The lawsuit, filed on February 11, claims that the disclosure violates the Privacy Act of 1974. This act restricts government agencies from sharing personal records without legal exceptions. According to the complaint, OPM unlawfully shared sensitive personnel records of millions of federal employees, retirees, and job applicants with DOGE without obtaining consent. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York as reported by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
In a Stanford Legal Podcast episode titled "Suing DOGE: Musk, Trump, and an Imperial Presidency," Stanford Law Professors Pam Karlan and Mark Lemley discuss privacy concerns and government overreach. The conversation focuses on a lawsuit filed by privacy advocates against OPM to prevent the disclosure of federal employees' sensitive data to Elon Musk's DOGE.
Karlan expressed concern over the uncertainty surrounding DOGE's identity and intentions: "Once they have access to this data... it’s not clear what else they might use this data for." She added that Musk's control over such information could lead society towards a surveillance state reminiscent of "1984 or panopticon."
Lemley is noted as being the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology.