Judge bars Musk's DOGE team from Social Security records in scathing ruling
A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring Elon Musk's DOGE from accessing personally identifiable information from the Social Security Administration
A federal judge Thursday issued a temporary restraining order barring Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency team from getting access to personally identifiable information from the Social Security Administration.
Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander in a scathing ruling accused DOGE of launching a "fishing expedition" at the Social Security agency and failing to provide any reason why it needed to access vast swaths of Americans' personal and private data.
The order in U.S. District Court in Baltimore blocks the Social Security Administration, acting commissioner Leland Dudek and chief information officer Michael Russo, as well as all related agents and employees working with them, from granting access to any system containing personally identifiable information.
Per the lawsuit, personally identifiable information is defined as information that can be used to identify an individual, either on its own or when combined with other information.
Hollander, noting the affiliates of DOGE have kept their identities hidden, wrote, "ironically, the identity of these DOGE affiliates has been concealed because defendants are concerned that the disclosure of even their names would expose them to harassment and thus invade their privacy."
"The defense does not appear to share a privacy concern for the millions of Americans whose SSA records were made available to the DOGE affiliates, without their consent," the judge wrote.
— CNBC's Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
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This story originally appeared on: CNBC - Author:Lorie Konish
