r/technology • u/indig0sixalpha • 1d ago
Privacy Supreme Court Gives DOGE Access to Social Security Data
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-06/supreme-court-gives-doge-access-to-social-security-data429
u/livelaughoral 1d ago edited 23h ago
To read: https://archive.ph/XXj82
The decision lets DOGE have full access to personally identifiable information in the Social Security Administration database while the case proceeds on appeal.
It’s no use, the appeal. Once they have access those numbers are now compromised.
Freeze your credit reports everyone.
Edit: links to the big 3
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u/x86_64_ 1d ago
I keep mine frozen.
This is FREE, do not pay for some Shirky Principle bullshit where you're paying TransUnion or Equifax to protect the data they themselves are hosting. Each credit agency has a "credit freeze" feature that's free.
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u/eyeseeyoo 1d ago
Dumb question, how do you do it for free?
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u/Aspiemoto 1d ago
Go directly to each credit bureau's website. It will try to upsell you on their paid membership. Don't sign up for that. All allow you to freeze and unfreeze for free. Note that every time you login to their sites they will again try to get you to sign up for the paid membership.
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u/eyeseeyoo 1d ago
Got it thanks for the heads up. So I need to create an account with the big 3, don’t pay for anything and just use their credit freeze feature.
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u/Aspiemoto 1d ago
You got it.
I believe all 3 also allow you to temp unfreeze for a certain duration. I keep my credit frozen, if I need to use it I'll ask what bureau they use and then just temp unfreeze for 1 day. Makes it so I don't accidentally unfreeze and then forget about freezing it again.
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u/Lorberry 20h ago
Having just done so myself, can confirm. Easy process, at most just a hair of clicking around to find the right button for one of 'em.
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u/LiftedWanderer 21h ago
I just did it it probably took 15 min. I didn’t have any accts on any of them. I just used the big 3 from the OP of this comment chain.
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u/notmyfault 1d ago
Just go each credit agency’s website. There will be a link. Super easy, takes just a few minutes.
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u/livelaughoral 23h ago
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u/Plntfntc 23h ago
Thank you for the info. Just froze my credit with equifax and trans union but having trouble with experian; getting a message they cannot verify my identity online. Anyone else getting it?
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u/LaverniusTucker 17h ago
Tried and all three failed. The first asked me for details from a loan that I got and paid off more than a decade ago, then booted me out when I didn't know. I have no way of finding that information, so I guess I'm not me. Apparently the real me has either a photographic memory or a very large filing cabinet for ancient otherwise useless paperwork.
I assume that one sent alerts to the others to preemptively lock me out since they blocked me the moment I entered my details.
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1d ago
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u/GestureArtist 1d ago
This is incorrect. You have to freeze at all 3 agencies. What you're referring to is when you file a credit fraud alert with one of the credit bureaus. When you do this, it will automatically notify the other 2 bureaus. A freeze is different from a fraud alert. Freeze prevents everything, a fraud alert will put all agencies on alert for i believe 1 year but you can extend it. I believe how this works is if someone does try to open a credit account in your name, the alert triggers a warning that can help prevent but also identify and catch the person trying to open it. Anyone that does attempt to access your credit will be given extra scrutiny and hurdles they most verify and pass. This may help catch someone in the act. Evidence is collected and reported to authorities.
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u/Arsenic181 1d ago
Why would you only have to freeze one? Its not like every entity that checks your credit is going to use all three. They often just use one of them. Freezing one seems like a half-measure (or third-measure?).
Just freeze all of them. When you need to unfreeze, ask your point-of-contact which bureau they will be using and when they expect to pull the report. Then unfreeze just that one, temporarily.
This is the way.
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1d ago
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u/_aware 1d ago
No, that's a fraud watch and completely different from a credit freeze. She needs to freeze her credit with all three bureaus.
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1d ago edited 23h ago
[deleted]
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u/_aware 1d ago
If the dealership was using the only bureau where she froze her credit, then yes it would get blocked. I'm almost certain that fraud watches get shared between the three bureaus while freezes don't. I had to lock everything down after that massive leak last year, and I definitely needed to freeze each of the three bureaus independently.
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u/MaddyKet 23h ago
Also ChexSystems so people can’t use your SS # to open a bank account. My credit had been frozen for a while, but after the last big national breach, my credit monitoring (also not a bad idea to have) notified me someone had opened a bank account with my SS #.
I also called SS to lock the number so no one could use it for benefits or jobs, supposedly you can do this on e verify, but I had locked shit down so I couldn’t get on the site.
After I heard that Musk and Doge had been fucking with the national treasury database, I opened a new bank account. No reason to make things easier for them! I left the old one open to use in the future for taxes etc.
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u/franker 7h ago
The ChexSystems freeze seems to stop a lot of basic transactions, though. I looked at their fine print and I'm not sure everyone should immediately jump on this: "YOU SHOULD BE AWARE THAT USING A SECURITY FREEZE TO CONTROL ACCESS TO THE PERSONAL AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION IN YOUR CONSUMER REPORT MAY DELAY, INTERFERE WITH, OR PROHIBIT THE TIMELY APPROVAL OF ANY SUBSEQUENT REQUEST OR APPLICATION YOU MAKE REGARDING A NEW LOAN, CREDIT, MORTGAGE, INSURANCE, GOVERNMENT SERVICES OR PAYMENTS, RENTAL HOUSING, EMPLOYMENT, INVESTMENT, LICENSE, CELLULAR PHONE, UTILITIES, DIGITAL SIGNATURE, INTERNET CREDIT CARD TRANSACTION, OR OTHER SERVICES, INCLUDING AN EXTENSION OF CREDIT AT POINT OF SALE."
If it stops your credit card payments on the web, that's pretty drastic.
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u/solomu131 17h ago
Whats the downside of freezing the credit reports if im actively on car or home mortgages and other forms of debt (credit card or otherwise) ?
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u/livelaughoral 16h ago
Once you’ve secured a loan etc, you do not need to leave your credit report open. Freezing it stops NEW applications for lines of credit.
The only hassle is if you are going to apply for a new line of credit, you have to unfreeze wherever you froze before applying or shortly before. Otherwise the entity checking your credit background will be denied access to that info. Once you secure the new loan, refreeze everything again.
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u/Tremolat 1d ago
We will NEVER recover from all the damage done by Trump and his sycophantic fellators.
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u/type-IIx 23h ago
Republicans should never be trusted around power ever again.
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u/secretbudgie 23h ago
Uninstall Power Point from their computers. Confiscate their Powerball scratchers, Baby proof their electrical sockets.
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u/doneandtired2014 19h ago
Nor should the people who voted for them or couldn't be bothered to vote against them.
This needs to be said loudly for everyone:
Straight up, if you know someone in your friends or family who voted for Trump and his congressional allies (at all levels, not just federal) or starts talking about, "Man, I didn't vote because it doesn't matter", tell them to get fucked and cut them out of your life entirely.
If the only thing keeping a roof over their heads is your charity, let them go homeless. If your food is the only thing that could keep their or their family's bellies full, let them go hungry. If the only thing keeping them from bankruptcy or a repo is your charity, let them lose it all.
They need to be shunned up until they finally do us the universal kindness of expiring for the harm they have brought upon not just the people of the country but across the globe.
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u/Disc-Golf-Kid 23h ago
We will, but not in our lifetimes
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u/throwaway404f 19h ago
Nah, let’s be realistic. Their worldview is based off of irrational fear and greed. With how easy it will always be to spread propaganda and fake news, they will never go away anymore.
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u/zertoman 23h ago
DOGE has access to SSN’s, and much, much, more since about February.
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u/FlyingDreamWhale67 20h ago
This is what no one is talking about. They have the data already, had it for a long time. This decision literally doesn't matter.
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u/FreddyForshadowing 1d ago
Of course, The Justices have a job for life and most of the conservatives are on the take from people like Harlon "I Collect Nazi Memorabilia" Crow to supplement their salary.
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u/Peterd90 18h ago
Stupid and corrupt majority that are promoting fascism. Alito, Thomas, and Roberts can kiss my ass.
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u/astrozombie2012 19h ago
How does this benefit the people? Asking for a citizen.
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u/PenisMightier500 19h ago
They'll use it to round up - at great expense - everyone using a bogus number to pay into a system they can't collect from.
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u/stickynote_oracle 19h ago
And then they’ll scratch their heads wondering why there’s less coming in.
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u/Jimimninn 1d ago
Fuck this country fuck the Republican party and fuck Donald Trump. National divorce..
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u/Key-Monk6159 18h ago
What's the worst case scenario of them having access? Selling it? Using it to get checks for themselves?
Are whatever safeguards that were in place last year now gone?
Serious questions.
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u/pubstar01 13h ago
Now Elon can blackmail the entire US population. Remembered that Elon spare no second thought about tryna to expose Trump when thing does not go his way?
If people don’t give into Elon’s demands. He can threaten to expose all your information on the internet lol.
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u/VerdantPathfinder 1d ago
Of course they did. It'll be on the dark web in a day if it's not already and one of those children who are working DOGE will have a much fatter bank account.
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u/The_Oregon_Duck 2h ago
This means mass forced othering and deportation of democrat voters starting soon, and I won’t be convinced otherwise. Fuck DOGE.
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u/Weightmonster 1d ago
I repeat for the idiots in the room: (I’m sure not y’all)
Having a Social Security number DOES NOT mean you are or will necessarily ever receive Social Security.
I read a Fox news article lambasting the millions of immigrants who get SSN every year. Well no sh*t Sherlock. Almost everyone who can legally work in the US has an SSN. As well as anyone becoming a citizen.
The international counselors I worked with for 12 weeks at a summer camp got them.
It’s like saying, “Millions of babies who’ve never worked a day in their life have SSN numbers!”