In a move that has sparked great controversy surrounding privacy and data security, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), along with a coalition of privacy advocates led by Lex Lumina, has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District Court of New York. This legal action seeks to halt the disclosure of private and sensitive information of millions of Americans by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an entity created by Elon Musk.
The lawsuit is filed on behalf of two worker unions and several current and former federal government employees. In addition to requesting the suspension of any future data disclosure, the removal of any information already shared with DOGE is demanded. The lawsuit argues that the OPM and its acting director, Charles Ezell, have violated the 1974 Privacy Act by handing over personnel records to this new institution.
The case includes testimonies from union representatives involved, such as the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the Administrative Judges Association. Among the plaintiffs are Vanessa Barrow, an employee at the Brooklyn Veterans Medical Center, and George Jones, president of AFGE Local 2094. The OPM manages one of the largest repositories of sensitive data in the country, including personally identifiable information, salary details, health records, and financial data, affecting tens of millions of federal workers, retirees, and job applicants in the public sector.
The OPM has faced previous criticisms for privacy breaches. One prominent case occurred in 2015, when a data breach compromised the personal information of over 22 million individuals. The 1974 Privacy Act imposes strict restrictions on the disclosure of sensitive records without the consent of affected individuals, in order to protect citizens from government misuse of their data.
The complaint emphasizes that there is no legal justification for DOGE to have access to this data. It is argued that the OPM’s action allowing this uncontrolled access jeopardizes the privacy and security of millions of Americans. The EFF, which has advocated for digital privacy rights for over three decades, has been involved in numerous critical cases to defend these fundamental principles.
via: MiMub in Spanish
