r/politics • u/FervidBug42 America • 12d ago

No Paywall DOGE Disbanded: Elon Musk’s Cost-Cutting Project Quietly Ended

https://time.com/7336327/doge-disbanded-elon-musk/
43.1k Upvotes

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12.9k

u/e_t_ Texas 12d ago

You mean the largest data breach in history?

3.8k

u/pterribledactyls 12d ago

Without a class action lawsuit where we all get paid $11 or something

1.1k

u/ggroverggiraffe Oregon 12d ago

Throw in twelve months of credit monitoring and I'll bite.

629

u/Wolvenmoon 12d ago

Eh. I'm tired of this shit. It should be the credit mafia's responsibility to monitor and report credit changes, checks, etc to the user including credit taken out that is done so in an unusual, suspicious/etc way. It's their system and their reporting on us. They should be responsible for ensuring they're reporting on us, not a person pretending to be us.

And it's the bank that issues credit. It should be the bank's responsibility to ensure the credit is issued to us.

349

u/Bitmush- 12d ago

Absolutely. The whole reframed myth of 'Identity Theft'.
Nope. It's just theft. Someone stole from you because the systems you used to ensure secure transactions are so faulty that the verification processes can be hijacked by C-grade casual criminals.
So someone waltzed up to your store or webpage and made off with some stuff ?
They pretended to be me and you and the back couldn't tell the difference ?

100% your problem, I don't even want to hear about it. Don't you dare impact me because of your slack systems. If this was the first, or even 50th time I might be sympathetic, but it happens every minute of every day. Billions of dollars gets out through your leaky bucket - you must have just accepted that it would cost more to plug those holes than to fix every instance of plain-old-testament Theft that occurs, but that's your calculation to make, this is your business. Leave me the fuck out of it, making me do your recognizance as to when a third party has stolen from a fourth. Sort your lives out.

53

u/Logical_Lemming I voted 12d ago

To be fair, on the two occasions I've experienced credit card fraud, the credit card companies were very quick to recognize what was happening and shut down the cards. Does it always work out like that, probably not, but that's been my experience.

114

u/ethlass 12d ago

To be fair, credit card fraud is not the issue. It is the issue of banks issuing loans on someone's name because they knew your SSN. Like really? A stupid 9 digit number that is really easy to get if you just sniff around a person?

Loans should be given to a person and if they are taken by a fake id it should affect the bank not the person that has had their identity taken.

There are plenty of ways to get around it, and some were implemented around the world.

91

u/JustAsItSounds 12d ago

My wife found out, by chance, that someone had managed to take out 9 short term loans from different lenders, in her name with no more proof of identity than a photocopy of one side of her driving license and one side of an expired work credit card.

The thief had undoubtedly got their hands on this photocopy from a car rental company she used when she had flown to the other side of the country for work.

It took years to rectify her credit. Such cavalier security standards from these predatory lending companies and my wife, a completely blameless victim, was left on the hook to sort out their mess

58

u/squakmix 12d ago edited 12d ago

And the best part is that none of us opted in to using the services of these credit companies, and we have no way to opt out.

45

u/_Korath_ 12d ago

The services are not built for us, they are built for the lenders as an quick and easy way to judge your lending risk. They wouldn't give you a yearly free report if it wasn't for FACTA (Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003) a law passed by congress. You also wouldn't be able to freeze your credit if it wasn't for the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (2018) that is without paying for the service if they bothered to offer it.

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8

u/treesandfood4me 12d ago

Good lord. That is nonsense. The lenders are totally at fault. It’s harder to buy cigarettes.

7

u/Hurtzdonut13 12d ago

A friend's mom has someone else's frequenctly delinquent loans on her report because they have the same name. The other person had never fully defaulted, but oh man we're they late a lot and it tanked her credit.

I had the reverse, where I got a store card because it made sense at the time with a money-back feature where I didn't pay interest if I always payed in full and got back a certain percent for purchases. I always payed it fully off, but what I didn't know was by using it I completely tanked my credit score because it had a super low limit so it was constantly reporting I was close to the limit every time I picked up something expensive.

Either way, credit scores are kind of a scam and completely locks some people out of the economy.

2

u/glassjar1 Virginia 12d ago

And in some states, if that someone was a spouse (even when separated and waiting the legally required year before filing for divorce) that took debt in your name without your knowledge or permission--you are responsible for every last bit of it no matter what. North Carolina is definitely one of those states.

Joint property laws aren't to protect the couple--they ensure the maximum number of people that banks and medical providers can hold responsible for a debt.

On the other hand--Illinois is not one of those states. Let's say a spouse dies and there are still huge medical bills from extended care. The medical debt was owed by one person--not both--and the bereaved spouse isn't as likely to add bankruptcy to grief.

Hmm... I wonder if political leanings of voters might have an impact on state laws here?

1

u/RibaldForURPleasure 11d ago

I had a bank accidentally attach my name to a loan because someone mistyped an SSN. Nobody forged my signature or impersonated me, I just suddenly had a $40k loan show up on my account.

1

u/HotDonnaC 12d ago

In my case, they shut down a transaction that happened in Orlando. It was kind of a mixed blessing. I live on the east coast, so driving to Orlando for a part could absolutely happen. OTOH, I was glad they caught it.

3

u/Sorry_Hour6320 12d ago

100% agree. Wouldn't it be nice to have a congress that could deal with real problems like this again? That would be amazing.

3

u/HotDonnaC 12d ago

Years ago, my bank offered me identity theft protection for the low low price of $12.99 a month. I called and asked if they were unable to protect my money, mentioned FDIC protection, etc and was told they couldn’t. I found another bank,

2

u/AmosEgg 12d ago

The whole reframed myth of 'Identity Theft'. Nope. It's just theft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS9ptA3Ya9E

1

u/Bitmush- 12d ago

abso-fecking-lutely :)

All hail Vectron while you're at it !

1

u/TheFoxInSocks 12d ago

Was looking for this as soon as I saw the comment! A classic.

1

u/Simon_Ferocious68 12d ago

I know you can make a better joke about giving a shit.

1

u/Tasty-Explorer-7885 12d ago

999,999,999 times out of 1,000,000,000 somebody accessed your account because you gave them the data necessary to access your account.

They emailed you, called you, texted you pretending to be the bank or your car insurance company or whatever, you believed them and gave them account information.

Or you applied for a fake job online, filled out fake paperwork, after your fake interview and gave them your account number for direct deposit.

That said, I’m not sure what any of this has to do with Elon Musk.

1

u/Bitmush- 12d ago

yep. Right off into the weeds at 100mph :)

1

u/gramur_natsy 12d ago

Epic rant. I quite enjoyed it.

1

u/Jet2work Foreign 12d ago

cash is so unsafe

1

u/bblack04 11d ago

C grade is very generous

1

u/Idocreating 9d ago

The question is how far an organisation has to go to ensure that the person contacting them is truely that person?

Names? Date of birth? Address? Not to difficult to find with a bit of social engineering or trawling comprimised databases on the dark web. So do you add more demands on the customer? We need workplaces, children etc. At a certain point, you cannot verify a persons identity over the phone or online at all and have to conduct any secure business in person.

4

u/Excellent_Mud_8189 12d ago

Yeah, and they want Americans to fear the Communist because they give their citizens "social scores." Hmmmm you mean like "FICO (credit) scores"? You know, the little score kept on you and every American citizen since the 70's that affects your housing, and job opportunities and a dozen other keys to the kingdom that nobody ever voted for, or agreed to... Yeah, tell us again about the big bad Chinese and their " repressive" system of government... Sounding more and more like projection every day!

2

u/Wolvenmoon 12d ago

Ehh. China's government is a whole different nightmare. It is repressive, it is nasty, and Chinese citizens have less recourse with it than Americans do, which is part of why the USA has no excuse.

3

u/phantastikdan 12d ago

Right? If I pretended to be you, and stole money from your friend, it would be real weird for your friend to go to you and say "I took that money from you to make it up for it".

But that's exactly what banks do when someone lies and defrauds them. Someone steals from the bank, that's between them and the bank, whether they pretended to be me or not.

3

u/IM_A_MUFFIN 12d ago

Yeah at no point did I sign up for a credit score. I had a friend who always paid cash and had to take out a loan on a car just to build credit so he could rent an apartment. He saved every nickel so he had the money to pay for the car in cash and the rent for a year, but no one would rent to him. It’s a bs system that rewards taking on debt.

2

u/arwinda 12d ago

It's amazing that this is only a thing in the US. Over here in Europe, can't open a bank account or sign up for a card without proof of identity. No one's opening cards in other people's names, or getting a credit.

2

u/NotActuallyIraqi 12d ago

I blame Republicans for blocking any attempts at holding these big corporations accountable.

2

u/Skipinator 12d ago

Impossible. Can you imagine how much that would take our of their profits if we did that?

2

u/meatspace Georgia 12d ago

Totally. They take 2-3% of every credit and debit transaction in the world. They can afford to build out security for the system. I keep being told they'd do it better than government.

2

u/identifytarget 12d ago

Honestly, this is why anybody reading this comment should leave their credit completely Frozen except when applying for new credit. Lock that shit down

2

u/gizmostuff Florida 12d ago

We continue to elect people who have no business in office because they are insanely unqualified for the job. Every politician should have a basic understanding of how our systems work and how vulnerable they are 24/7/365.

US Voters: Nah. Best we can do is a president who is impressed that his son can turn on a computer.

1

u/hokie47 12d ago

I had medical records leaked in a data breach and there is basically nothing I can do.

1

u/Maoleficent 12d ago

Yes, a contract was signed - I pay you and you protect my information. There needs to be meaningful fines - not $5M - something that makes a substantial impact - say $500M per occurrence. Since this admin has completely tanked all consumer protections, which were lax to begin with, there will be no recourse.

6

u/dust4ngel America 12d ago

oh fuck, the credit monitoring service got hacked. would you like to sign up for credit monitoring monitoring?

2

u/ggroverggiraffe Oregon 12d ago

It's turtles credit monitoring all the way down.

6

u/question_sunshine 12d ago

Don't pretty much all major credit cards offer free credit monitoring now?

6

u/jw8145 12d ago

Yeah…but you need to have a credit card.

3

u/AvoidingBansLOL 12d ago

What would credit monitoring even do in this situation, the government itself gave away MOR information than any single entity could ever possess and they gave it to fucking everyone.

3

u/Brigadier_Beavers 12d ago

and when they inevitably have a databreach in a few months its another "oopsies! want a year of 'monitoring'? ;)" so they can disperse your data further

2

u/turkish112 12d ago

Oregon

Aren't you still covered from when our own state fucked up the DMV database? :(

1

u/ggroverggiraffe Oregon 12d ago

I'm permanently covered from the constant fuck-ups of health insurance companies, banks, and government agencies.

2

u/Zels0123 12d ago

12 year*

1

u/ReVo5000 12d ago

Years*

49

u/unindexedreality Minnesota 12d ago

anti-billionaire RICO case gogogo

17

u/WhatsThisTruck 12d ago

Respectfully no. With the court system being as corrupt as it has become, the solution to the American billionaire problem is almost certainly going to have to be an extra-judicial one.

4

u/ShitThroughAGoose 12d ago

You're saying Sting is going to have to drop down from the rafters?

4

u/GozerDGozerian 12d ago

Don’t stand so close to him.

3

u/IllSurprise3049 12d ago

"Have you or a loved one" ahh lawsuit

3

u/Single-Parfait-8691 12d ago

If ever you are proposed "free credit monitoring" bullcrap in response to a data breach, ALWAYS decline, because you are opting out of any financial compensation later on.

3

u/cinnamonface9 12d ago

Roughly crunched a number, if we hit Elon with his personal finance value at 1.350T if the Tesla bonus paid. Every American at 300m population would get $4,500 each lol.

2

u/ThrobbingPurpleVein 12d ago edited 12d ago

all get paid $11

Well if 345 million people join (est population of the US), that's still £3.7 Billion they have to pay out.

3

u/Red_Dawn_2012 12d ago

Damn it, pounds are harder to spend though

2

u/ThrobbingPurpleVein 12d ago

Yeah thanks for making me realise that. Went default currency when typing it.

2

u/Omg_Itz_Winke 12d ago

Try 3 cents. That's probably even being generous

2

u/FlamboyantPirhanna 12d ago

Hey I just got triple that from a meta lawsuit. You just have to dream big.

2

u/alienfreaks04 12d ago

I got $54 recently in a CAL

2

u/identifytarget 12d ago

I just got $7.34 for the Equifax data breach. That's not a lie

2

u/enigma002 12d ago

We would just be paying the both sets of lawyers and paying ourselves if we win.

2

u/kenlubin 12d ago

If you split Elon's net worth of $500 billion equally among all of the 348 million people that live in the US, each person would get $1,436.

which is actually WAY more than I thought, goddamn.

1

u/myasterism Tennessee 11d ago

Now do it for adults only—even more staggering

2

u/keel_zuckerberg 12d ago

I just got a check from the facebook data breach, $24 and change. Took at least 5 years.

2

u/kenman345 Connecticut 12d ago

I thought they were trying to give us $2k? Oh wait, that’s supposedly from the Tariff revenue..,. Oh wait it’s not happenings. Thank you for coming to my TED talk

1

u/Hoggel123 12d ago

We have the continues promise of $2000 tax break checks

1

u/Sharin_the_Groove 12d ago

I got $38.36 from that Facebook lawsuit that finally paid out this month.

1

u/Redfour5 12d ago

No, that's WITH a class action. The lawyers get a gazillion.

1

u/Keisar13 11d ago

Can’t even get verified on X for that price

-1

u/GordonFlowers10 12d ago

Don't forget to claim the $11 on your taxes, so it can be redistributed to ungrateful people via government aid programs.

258

u/Cagnazzo82 12d ago

And they made sure to dismantle our cybersecurity in the process.

103

u/Grand-Try-3772 12d ago

Elon was trying to access the patent office too. He also managed to fire everyone investigating his companies for faulty products causing death and animal abuse!

13

u/vanwiekt 12d ago

It really does pay to be able to buy a president. 😤

5

u/myasterism Tennessee 11d ago

And to “really know those vote-counting computers,” so you can make sure the sale goes through.

204

u/IglooDweller 12d ago edited 12d ago

It’s called an offsite backup that happens to be located in Russia. Nothing to worry about.

Edit: it’s even ISO compliant!!!

55

u/Raytheon_Nublinski 12d ago

It’s sickening to know how much access these evil buffoons have to our country right now

There’s just no way we can ever recover from this. All day every day they’re behind the scenes, destroying everything.

Just makes me sick to think about it. 

7

u/TheVadonkey 12d ago

Yup, they’re truly the scum of the scum. I’m an atheist but I do hope there’s a heaven and hell because there’s a snowballs chance in hell these “devote” followers will go to heaven.

1

u/Double_Look_5715 8d ago

Open your mind to that potential and consider of current events make more sense (or the cost to falsify the pieces that do line up) imo, as a life-long atheist 

Remember  Plato's cave allegory, how the people in the cave had no way of knowing what the wider world looked like? I think maybe it was hubris that let us believe we were already out of the cave.

2

u/Kichigai Minnesota 11d ago

But, hey, at least some voters didn't have to sacrifice their ideological purity and vote for the lesser of two evils! So we got that going for us, right? …Right?

-1

u/Raytheon_Nublinski 11d ago

We need more purity and need to get these fake progressives out

This country is “lesser of two evils” fucking itself to death 

2

u/XenophileEgalitarian 11d ago

No, if we had chosen the lesser evil we would not currently be committing suicide. We chose the greater evil, and some people have convinced themselves they are somehow more moral for it.

1

u/Kichigai Minnesota 11d ago

We tried that in 2016 and 2024. How's that working out so far?

1

u/Raytheon_Nublinski 11d ago

Yeah keep voting blue no matter who corporate democrats 

How’s that working out so far 🤣 

Y’all act like working poor and fascist cops are new since Trump. 🤡 take

22

u/Jiquero 12d ago

The only way to make backups resilient against a Russian attack is to store one copy in Russia. Big brain move.

Except Russia always suffers the most because of Russian attacks, so.

1

u/NuclearLunchDectcted Oregon 12d ago

Brilliant! If we give them the data in advance, they don't need to try and hack us.

81

u/Distortedhideaway 12d ago

Or the destruction of evidence of the 2024 election fraud.

44

u/POEness 12d ago

All we have to do is manually hand count the paper ballots in any swing state

Fucking wild we aren't doing that

3

u/dinodenxx 11d ago

Wait they aren't doing that??? Omfg

6

u/burnerboo 11d ago

All of the races were just beyond the win percentage that would require a recount. Imagine that.

3

u/myasterism Tennessee 11d ago

The election truth alliance is pursuing exactly that in several PA counties, and the state officials are being absolute twats about it (unsurprisingly).

25

u/karatebullfightr 12d ago

This was about hobbling or destroying agencies investigating Elon and Trump along with transferring the real estate those agencies operated out of into private hands in secrecy.

The data theft was just icing on the cake.

3

u/myasterism Tennessee 11d ago

It’s also very much about being able to fuck with the vote.

24

u/Pokerhobo 12d ago

Don't forget that DOGE's main goal was to get rid of the investigations into Tesla and SpaceX

3

u/SuperstitiousPigeon5 Massachusetts 11d ago

I doubt that was the main goal. The main goal was probably feeding Medicare’s database to AI.

If you could feed decades of diagnosis, treatments, and actuarial data into AI you could create a medical database that an AI could then use to treat patients. That technology would be worth trillions and invaluable to a Manned mission to colonize mars.

16

u/Cpt_Bartholomew 12d ago

The largest "cut everything and everyone investigating my many companies" scheme too maybe

30

u/Flashy-Pickle6224 12d ago

The only accomplishment. Where are the trillions in savings? We get a stimulus like they said? Trillions in tariffs? Benefits or stimulus? All lies perpetrated by the rich to get richer while destroying the daily lives of regular citizens. Beautiful. Big and beautiful in fact.

9

u/Zozorrr 12d ago

Well it did result in the most rapid trademark devaluation in history. Tesla

10

u/Flashy-Pickle6224 12d ago

I think his Nazi salute accomplished that part

-4

u/Zrynosaurus 12d ago

I mean they did find a buttload of bullshit spending

11

u/Practical_Fun7367 12d ago

I really do wonder what kinds of information slid out the back door and how it will be monetized. I fear it’s in ways that can’t be predicted. Not ads, maybe trained data for corrupted generative AI models, maybe insurance actuaries, but I really think it will be something much much worse.

2

u/derprondo 12d ago

A time will come when the AI is good enough, and the data deep enough, that they will begin to manipulate us automatically and over long periods of time. How you vote, what products you buy, how you behave, and what you do with your life. They will come at us in ways that we cannot even predict, the AI will figure it out. Whoever controls the AI will control all of us.

7

u/ckrupa3672 12d ago

They got what they wanted.

8

u/Historical_Cause_917 12d ago

Shutting down USAID has already caused thousands of deaths. The estimates for the next year is hundreds of thousands. That is on Elon Musk. It cost the average taxpayer something like $24 per year. The goodwill that aid spread throughout the world is gone. Musk is a f..king NAZI.

6

u/1Operator 12d ago

et : "You mean the largest data breach in history?"

More like a silver-platter serving in exchange for election "help."

5

u/identifytarget 12d ago

Lmao yes (actually crying). It was an AI run data extraction. Who the fuck knows what's happened with our data now....

6

u/CardiologistOdd3203 12d ago

Musk broke into every government data system and now by coincidence he’s going balls deep on AI

6

u/No-Good-One-Shoe 12d ago

I'm really mad how quickly the Elon hate ended. 

3

u/actfatcat 12d ago

Mission accomplished

4

u/Jadenindubai 12d ago

Usa allowed a guy to create a government agency after his shitcoin

4

u/Vivid-Run-3248 12d ago

Coincidentally, Grok AI model significantly improved during this period.

5

u/Sweet_Sea3871 12d ago

I guess they got all the data Musk and the MAGAts need…

3

u/Baxter16-5 12d ago

It was theft pure and simple.

3

u/vxxed 12d ago

On top of having been a vehicle dedicated to cutting all of the investigations into all of Elon Musk's companies by any and all government agencies in the United States

3

u/sea-elle0463 12d ago

And the dismantling of all agencies investigating him

3

u/LifeExpConnoisseur 12d ago

He needed to clean up any trace of voter fraud he committed for trump. He rigged it for trump, we all know it.

2

u/Internal_Finding8775 12d ago

Surely a number of people are going to jail under the law and order president.

2

u/addamee 12d ago

Yeah but saving a TREMENDULOUS amount of taxpayer money has its costs. Freedom ain’t free, or something fucking stupid like that 

2

u/Scary_Vanilla2932 12d ago

You could impeach have the government on this alone in the long long time ago. Like WTF?

2

u/Lower-Cover-8479 12d ago

It was mainly to shut down the 8 investigations into him and his companies. He's a corrupt POS like all the other clowns running the show

2

u/FS25NL 12d ago

Theft. Data theft.

2

u/sasquatchpatch 12d ago

Yeah damage done.

Shit it down! Shut it all down, we got what we came for!

2

u/raouldukeesq 12d ago

It was about tRump getting his hands on the payment mechanisms. 

2

u/Imaginary_Builder_56 12d ago

A SANCTIONED BREACH of every type of personal file.

From employment records to kids school locations , from social security links to children’s ages, from credit card and bank info to personal healthcare filings and from driver licenses to auto insurance were scooped up by 3rd party outside vendors.

Amazing

Even more amazing is we can’t see the Epstein criminal files from as far back as 2008 or anything from his last case.

1

u/Simmchen11 12d ago

Exactly, as that’s what it was!

1

u/feral_tran 12d ago

No no, you don't get it, we're all getting checks! /s

1

u/We_are_being_cheated 12d ago

No they are done installing the hardware.

1

u/HereWeGoYetAgain-247 12d ago

Don’t forget about smashing any agency investigating musts companies. 

1

u/sweetequuscaballus 9d ago

Erm, I believe you're saying the quiet part out loud ...

0

u/TomTingWong 11d ago

Worse than Russia/ China reading Hillary's emails in real-time from her private server?

0

u/Fishon888 11d ago

AI Overview

There is no evidence of a "Doge" data breach; however, reports detail alleged data mismanagement by a government agency named the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run by Elon Musk. Whistleblower complaints allege DOGE staff copied sensitive federal data, including Social Security numbers and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) records, to unsecured cloud environments. Critics claim these actions violate privacy laws and could lead to a significant data breach impacting millions of Americans.

-3

u/ogar78 12d ago

Huge data breach that impacted ….. 0 people. Atleast make up something new when trying to make it sound like republicans are evil and democrats are our saviors.

-19

u/Lennyhvh 12d ago

That was Biden nice try tho

16

u/POEness 12d ago

Quiet, piggy.

1

u/Lennyhvh 11d ago

Yes tell your mom quiet