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Musk's DOGE seeks access to personal taxpayer data, raising alarm at IRS
- ipython 2y agohttps://archive.ph/KZqE5 https://archive.ph/KZqE5
- strangeloops85 2y agoSo the White House (where doge sits) has direct access to anyone’s tax returns. I assume this can be used to blackmail or threaten anyone they don’t like? Imagine the outcry if the Biden White House had tried to do this, especially because Trump has never (to this day!) posted his tax returns..
- AnimalMuppet 2y agoHmm. Tinfoil hat time... Musk could use this to get Trump's tax returns. That could be blackmail material on Trump. (And the Supreme Court, in the same way.) He could leverage that into getting an even freer hand to do whatever he wants. Now who's ruling the country? People talked about "President Musk", but that was just sarcasm (we think). But he could use this to really be "the power behind the throne", with money, media clout, and blackmail material on all the office holders. Is that just tinfoil-hat level paranoia? Or is it what's really going on? (Or, between the two, is it not necessarily what's going on, but still a real concern?)
- hooverd 2y agoTrump is happy to golf and sign EOs. Musk... Has probably cooked his brain on a combination of stimulants and ketamine and Neo-Nazi Twitter. He's living on entirely frictionless life because of his money and thinks his scions will be the princes of Mars.
- kbenson 2y agoThe wildest thing about this take is that it seems fairly plausible at this point.
- WeylandYutani 2y agoRemember when Trump denied knowledge of project 2025?
- hooverd 2y agoI do. I don't even fault Trump for lying anymore; he's famous for reneging on his word. I think the media in their quest for "objectiveness" seem to have given up on object permanence. "Surely the leopards with their history of eating faces and Eating Faces 2025 platform would never eat faces, they've given me, a very special boy, their word!"
- Terr_ 2y agoWhen Trump illegally "paused" funding for electric vehicle charging networks, I wondered if it was (among other possibilities) an attempt to get some extortion leverage over Musk. The inner dynamics must be fascinating, even without one of Musk's broodlings telling Trump to shush his mouth on TV.
- blactuary 2y agoHe already has Trump's Twitter DMs, which might be even more useful than his tax returns for blackmail
- duxup 2y agoTrump has been pretty skilled at finding people to do his dirty work ... and they pay the price. Not saying your tinfoil hat is any less likely, but Trump has a pattern too, and he's the only one SCOTUS has declared off limits.
- drweevil 2y agoAnd what about Elon’s tax returns?
- renegade-otter 2y agoBlackmailing someone who controls the DOJ is a very bad idea. That one. Secondly, you cannot blackmail Trump with this. His cult followers just shrug because, you know - her emails.
- Terr_ 2y agoMissing word: "Illegal" access. Henchmen violating privacy laws is just as illegal as of they were murdering people in the street. There's no "because your boss is a clown" exception.
- strangeloops85 2y agoPolitical appointees including the IRS commissioner have never had direct access to the system before given its sensitivity. There are likely legal ramifications that will be worked through the courts on this.
- cma 2y agoIt is going to be decided soon if courts have any practical enforcement ability at all against them. Could get very ugly.
- beretguy 2y agoWhat happens if court says "it's ok"?
- bediger4000 2y agoThen Musk will use the data to further his aims. Dissidents will have addresses, employers, etc exposed, for randos to use to abuse the dissidents.
- justlikereddit 2y agoSo like how leftists have been hounding and doxing people for the last decade? What goes around comes around, wake me up when something unexpected happens
- bediger4000 2y agoNice "whataboutism". We also had right wingers doxxing and cancelling pro-palestine protestors very recently. If it was wrong for "leftists" to do something, that makes it morally correct for right wingers to do it? Do no t right wingers have moral agency of their own? Beyond all that, these "leftists" weren't the US government, they did not have historical employment and income and related data, and they didn't have the capability of organizing some kind of large scale smear campaign with other arms of the government.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- blactuary 2y agoGift link https://wapo.st/3QizwcN https://wapo.st/3QizwcN
- duxup 2y agoThe party that complained about “big tech” has empowered “big tech” to collect all our personal taxpayer data directly.
- blactuary 2y agoThey put the guy who leaked some rich people's tax returns to ProPublica in prison for 5 years https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/former-irs-contractor-sentenced-5-years-prison-leaking-trump-tax-recor-rcna135908 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/former-i...
- WeylandYutani 2y agoAll animals are equal...
- nojvek 2y agoIn JS, there is == and === Some are more equal than others.
- beretguy 2y agoOh, it's not flagged yet?
- leotravis10 2y agoIt is now, which is disgraceful.
- beretguy 2y agoWOW, you've got to be kidding me... What's wrong with hackernews?
- drweevil 2y ago>”A Trump administration official said DOGE personnel needed IDRS access because DOGE staff are working to “eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse, and improve government performance to better serve the people.” My bet is that these people think they can feed all this data to a magic AI and presto, out comes a list of “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Otherwise you’d need trained auditors, which the IRS already has. What a shit show.
- leotravis10 2y agoToday is a very good time to file a tax return filing extension (Form 4068) giving the likely compromising of our taxpayer data and it's also a very good time to contact your state Attorney General and your members of Congress on this ongoing crisis.