| deli... | The fraud risk from the couple hundred government employees who already have access is never debated. Neither should 1 more contractor. |
| stev... | Don't give up your privacy! The trade off is not worth it. |
| saxo... | Why are people concerned about the wealthiest most successful intelligent business man access government wasteful spending? Have they not seen the list? Now it’s time to see the millions of taxpayer dollars that have fraudulently gone to government officials. DOGE isn’t trying to make money or harm law abiding tax payers. They don’t want or need our money- the purpose is to disarm fraudulence and waste in government spending. All the politicians that are so upset are probably getting kickbacks that they know arent appropriate. $48 million to Chelsea Clinton to pay for her wedding and $10m estate? Why is that ok???? |
| kyle... | This has nothing to do with privacy of the average American. I agree with these checks and balances, long overdue. |
| debr... | i do not think that giving a private citizen access to every American's personal data is a way to reduce fraud, but rather a way to invite more fraud. |
| kevi... | People seeing an unelected official who was not confirmed by Congress to have this over reach is so deep in propoganda kool-aid, it's not even remotely funny how dangerous this is. While we all understand people feeling hurt by taxes because we see them come out of our paychecks. But the hidden tax is that we, as Americans are not paid enough relative to the growth of the nations GDP, CEO, and billionaire (Robber Barons) pay. This hidden tax costs Americans FAR MORE than what they can wrap their heads around looking at their paychecks. Too much of our taxes go to rich and corporations handouts, and not enough to the people. You dont see DOGE cutting this waste, do we? I wonder why?Yet allowing this unelected, unconfirmed, richest man in the world who is only here because of his $240 million donation to one campaign, and unlimited push on his social media platform used as an election tool, is so beyond approach it is actual bribery and extortion. Musk wants access to our data and learn how to use it to raid the treasurey. Anyone who doesn't see this, and agrees with Musk,Trump, and Project 2025's current approach is also compromised by their propoganda. |
| mich... | Elon and a pack of pre-pubescent tech bros? NO THANKS |
| drol... | I do not believe DOGE has any authorized authority to do any of the action Musk and his hackers are doing. |
| simo... | What will DOGE do with our social security numbers? Almost every hacker has them already. Let them clean up the system and perhaps one day we will be a prosperous nation. |
| skip... | No no no no no no no no!!!!!!! |
| mich... | Musk has no regard for rules. He and his team have no reason to access anyone’s financial data. Doge is not trustworthy. For Lords sake they fire the nuclear security employees. No plan, no controls, they are breaking everything deliberately. Can we stop and think? |
| patr... | Government fraud can be reduced without accessing individual personal data. |
| cica... | Doge has yet to produce a single instance of proof of fraud in any of their endeavors. They’ve taken a sledgehammer to the foundations of all types of government agencies at this point that we depend on to keep us safe and functioning as a nation, even though we’re largely unaware of all of the workings of these agencies. There’s no doubt there’s some fraud. There always says when vast amounts of money being passed around. But more than likely, it’s outdated data systems that can’t keep and sort information efficiently that causes a lot of waste. |
| mlre... | It is a sham for Musk to control everything. He is a megalomaniac and a Bond Villain. He was not elected. He bought Trump and many elections so that they are beholden to him and will do his bidding. Soon it will be too late for the MAGA-ETTES to wake up. |
| cb10... | Doge was given approval by people that trump has authorized to be in these positions so they will obey his agenda. The government already has guiderails in place to identify fraud and abuse. Doge are not auditors or accountants, this is a big scam. |
| ster... | It's all about completing the Dictatorship! |
| rzip... | Both president Trump and president Musk know if you keep claiming Fraud that people will start to believe there is fraud and in fact they are even interested in finding it. What's the security clearances of all these DOGE people who are being given access to critical federal government systems? |
| rgar... | There is no privacy of information at the IRS or any other government agency. The IRS employs a few hundeds of thousnads of people that have access to all of our data everyday!!! Are they all completely trust worthy. Does giving one or a few DOGE employes create any more risk??? Really!!! That is a bad argument and rational. If this administration fails at eliminating fraud and waste and we continue to allow our Aristocrats to controll, mismange and steal our tax dollars AMERICA will not survive as we have known it. I am old and will be ok until I die. My children and grand children on the other hand have a potential bad outlook if we dont make changes. At some point you have to stop kicking the can down the road and leaving a huge mess for future generations to fix or suffer extream results. There ar no good or rational arguments against the DOGE audit that is happening now. What are the yellers and cussers afraid of??? Every true American alive should want and support more accountabillity from our leaders, how they manage and spend Our Money. |
| rgto... | The data is already there, why do you think it is safe now? There are plenty of data breaches that have released private data from "secure servers", why do you think the government is safer? Then explain that to the South Carolina taxpayers whose information was lost in a data breach. |
| bgrq... | We can't let someone without the proper clearance or credentials have access to people's tax records. I'm sure there are other ways to have a proper audit of the department. |
| arth... | If it’s done properly, looking at how the IRS operates rather than looking at individual corporations and individual, it will help establish a modern and efficient system. |
| clem... | We all give up our privacy online without concern, so the fact that thousands of fed employees have access to your personal information should be of greater concern than DOGE. To correct some bad information, Elon is working for free. His employees are being paid, but not him. Also, I've seen egregious claims on how much the audit costs. Do the math, 100 employees a day with benefits is cheap compared to the savings. |
| amuk... | He has no authority to see SS records. Govt fraud is a made up conspiracy theory. |
| d2da... | The US is quickly degenerating into a dictatorship. |
| nord... | We need to start stopping corruption period!! |
| thom... | 1) I don't believe Elon is fraudulent. 2) Fraud already exits in the government, incl the IRS- root it out. |
| bill... | Absolutely! There is no sanctity in corrupt cases posed by powerful political groups that infiltrate our democracy. Besides, we give our personal information freely every time we buy something online, weekly, daily, without a second thought. |
| pirn... | What makes people think this would reduce fraud? It would just allow for more corruption from Trump and DOGE. |
| tere... | Please let the ignorant and incompetent access to these government records plans and analysis too |
| mary... | Of course it is! |
| matt... | DOGE isn’t even a government department. It’s a group put together by a billionaire who paid to help get the president elected in return for this position that isn’t approved via government checks and balances. There’s no oversight of DOGE. That’s insane. This is banana republic activity. If we saw it happening abroad we would recognise it for what it is, a coup. It’s a coup on the American people, for the benefit of an kleptocratic oligarchy who has significant media control and benefits from billions of dollars of government contracts. Insanity. |
| zack... | There is absolutely zero risk with Doge accessing the IRS. Sad people believe in propaganda, the courts will just give Trump another win. I’m becoming tired of seeing this site fuel the flames of propaganda and misinformation! Just like the Iran review you did |
| jwtu... | Trillions of dollars lost…Anyone who wants to can find out Ssn. Who are these people who don’t want to uncover waste and abuse? It’s our taxpayer money. We have a right to know what’s happened. |
| wlkm... | Top priority ,eliminate waste and fraud and greatly increase our government’s efficiency of spending our hard earned taxes… inefficiency is imbedded in our government agencies and needs to be eliminated |
| pken... | Your survey presumes fraud is an issue. At least some circumstantial evidence should be presented to demonstrate a compelling reason for a social media giant to be allowed access to sensitive personal data. |
| flyb... | ABSOLUTE CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR THE MUSKRAT!!!!!!!!!! |
| tubi... | yes, reduce the open fraud that has not been policed, though there are departments specific to that task. |
| rmac... | Wow I can’t believe 54% believe this! This is definitely a libtard newsfeed! |
| lqbh... | It is not about the average citizen. It is about the rich getting richer. It’s been coming, the greed has been growing for decades, the poor and middle class will be decimated. Welcome peasants, worship your new King Musk, and don’t forget the one playing god-Trump. Two wrongs don’t make it right. Privacy is unimportant when you don’t have rights anymore. |
| orch... | DrIain the swamp all the way!!!! |
| barr... | Especially when a non elected official like Elon Musk is in charge! |
| b.rb... | We have got to stop the fraud! |
| bear... | How is it that someone with a net worth of nothing gets elected to congress and a few years later their net worth is tens of millions of dollars. The democrats have created layer upon layer of insulation to mask the kickback and other schemes to keep them in office. Criminals and traitors best describes most democrats in congress. |
| chap... | We need to have total accountability within the Government of the United States if accessing personal files is needed so be it! |
| 60th... | The IRS itself has authority to investigate potential fraud by a taxpayer, including access to the taxpayer's returns and other private information, when the legal standards for probable cause have been met. DOGE is charged with ferreting out fraud, abuse and waste in the operation of the federal government and has no legitimate need for any taxpayer's tax records or other private information. Moreover, software engineers do not possess the expertise or experience to investigate illegal and fraudulent activities. |
| cmar... | IRS experts in fraud find it all the time...not some kid off the street. |
| roac... | This is a trick question. DOGE doesn't seem to be doing audits or anything to investigate fraud abuse. And no, I don't trust DOGE to have access to any records, so hard "no." |
| lohm... | Fraud is the priority by far. Those claiming privacy risks are just haters of the administration and/or Elon Musk. Shame on them. |
| jule... | Let's cut down excess waste. Our data has been breached in most instances in all areas -- we all receive notifications everyday about a "breach of your private data". I don't think our main concern is about Doge. Let's find out what is really going on. |
| kenn... | I trust DOGE more than the IRS. DOGE is our government. Elon Musk needs not be elected. Unbelievable that we are even having a discussion about this. The Democrats had their chance to do it their way. No action has ever been taken. |
| mdul... | Normally, access to sensitive personal data must be accompanied by safeguards and demonstrated procedures to ensure it will be used in accordance within strictly defined boundaries and that the information cannot be easily compromised. No such guardrails have been required in the case of DOGE access. Trump has even insulated DOGE from freedom of information requests and accountability so the only thing we know is that Musk is being given information that will dramatically benefit his companies. Even his claims of finding waste and fraud so far are unproven and we seemingly are supposed to just take his word for it. For someone who spent circa $200M of his own money to win the election for Trump, he has already seen his net worth increase almost $200B (yes, billion, for a 1000X return on investment) since the election and he has managed to sweep away the government regulators that were responsible for overseeing his companies. To simply believe he is altruistically seeking to find government waste and fraud goes beyond absurd. |
| clee... | It’s no big deal, if we’ve nothing to hide. We don’t care if anyone knows our business. Be transparent and honest. All our information is recorded someplace anyway! |
| jool... | Donnie and Elon must be bored to keep coming up with these ridiculous proposals!! Our country is heading towards a fiasco!! Such a shame.. it was good til Musk got involved- rich boys playing with their toys!! Do it on your own time and your own dime. I am so disillusioned!!😥😥😥 |
| lndn... | Even if it were legal, DOGE doesn't need access to this particular IRS system/files to do its job. |
| mrss... | I would love to have transparency into the IRS so as to validate their arbitrary claims, penalties, taxations and other extremely excessive enact-ions. Why are they allowed such secrecy but inflict extreme pain that only the likes of GOD himself should be able to function this way. Maybe they feel they also are a 3 letter word, “IRS”, but they are not now and won’t ever be on His level. |
| skea... | There is virtually no government fraud in the tax system or other federal agencies! There is fraud in the part of tax payers - especially corporate - that needs to be k bestogatwd but now May go unchecked!! Hate this!! |
| oldg... | I think most have illusion of privacy.. |
| fric... | We don’t trust the new government institution lead by an unelected official |
| s.ay... | What about taxpayers who are committing tax fraud? |
| raeo... | DOGE needs to be shut down. Musk was never elected by the people. He is a villain only out to protect his interests. |
| chou... | We need to locate fraud first and save the people’s money. Also audit the auditors. |
| helb... | I’ve got nothing to hide |
| cery... | I think this is the wrong question - we shouldn't have to risk privacy in order to make fraud reduction a priority. If the current administration would handle things pursuant to our current laws, process and procedures, then we wouldn't/shouldn't have to worry about privacy risks. |
| thom... | Why would someone not want to uncover feaud????? |
| ham3... | Absolutely. its the only way to get the government in check, eliminate government fraud, and restructured. I'm excited to hear what they find. |
| shaw... | Musk has not been cleared. He has major conflict of interests. He should not be allowed to access this information. |
| dgoc... | If I truly believe they were looking for fraud, I would feel differently… But you don’t discover fraud in three days with five 20 year-old college graduates. What they are finding are programs that they don’t agree with. |
| greg... | The fraud, waste, and abuse will just get worse if something isn’t done now. Our private information is exposed more than we know already. I’m tired of our hard earned money being wasted by a bloated, indifferent, incompetent government. |
| serg... | There is no privacy in the age of Personal devices and financial apps like venmo and PayPal |
| fcse... | These Dogers don’t even have security clearance. |
| ambl... | I am not convinced they're really looking for fraud. If they were looking for waste or fraud, they'd be using accountants, not computer geeks. I am very concerned it's all an effort to obtain and them manipulate personal and government data for their own benefit. |
| inge... | DOGE or an other group should work to understand how to de-identify the data before being given access. This is done with healthcare data all the time. There should be plans to protect privacy first, and then they can move onto waste, fraud, and abuse. We should also be calling DODGE's mistakes and misinformation as what it is: government waste, fraud, and abuse. |
| neal... | I seriously doubt the richest man in the world, or whatever his standing is now, wants our peasant social security numbers? |
| susa... | We worked hard, paid our taxes and all US tax prayers deserve responsible financial stewardship of our dollars. I strongly believe if we were to vote on how are tax dollars are spent, most tax prayers, regardless of party affiliation, would slam the breaks on the high speed government spending. I'm concerned our government has lost control of it's wallet (and mind) on some wasteful, irresponsible expenditures. |
| wrwa... | The question is, where is congress on this issue? They are the law makers. They are standing back again waiting to see what direction the wind is blowing before voicing an opinion |
| ksdb... | Omg! What’s wrong with people? Employees of the federal government have access to this information and you are worried about more government employees having access to it? Please try and keep in mind that Elon IS a citizen! Elon already has a Top Security clearance. And most of you have voluntarily given one or more of his companies access to your financial information in the past. Tesla financial!!! PayPal!!! |
| john... | The minimal risk is worth the known benefit |
| wchr... | DOGE apparently has zero oversight . |
| kexe... | For me, this is really a false choice. Government owes it to the tax payers to do both. Unfortunately, Doge is not credible. They are data miners, not forensic accountants and cannot be criminally liable for reckless or nefarious actions. |
| lori... | I have zero trust in Elon Musk and anyone who works with or for him. I am furious that this unelected official has been given some much power and access to our government and the personal information of government workers and the American public |
| pjsm... | The risk of have Musk’s people conducting any improvement of any US agencies is far too dangerous. Musk is unqualified, unbalanced and too cosy with Putin. He is also building his own financial empire and is not respectful of the American constitution. |
| land... | It's unclear. Why can't the existing IRS investigate fraud? That's what they do...or is DOGE going after fraud internal to the IRS? If it's internal fraud what is their justification? Looks like a huge DOGE power grab. Who knows what Musk's minions will do with my date. |
| jodu... | I have no confidence with this group going into systems that are old and require a skilled hand. I would hope that SSDI has internal audits that should satisfy anyone. |
| madl... | Is there really government fraud? There may be wastefulness but is it fraud? And if so, then an approved authority should be involved in analysing it, not illegally fabricated DOGE and Elon Muck |
| bonn... | There is not enough fraud to excuse this invasion of privacy and DOGE should not be doing any of this, they are hackers not forensic accountants. They are not going after fraud at all they are putting everyone in a precarious position. |
| bedl... | Stealing our data and now our financial records is alarming. I am personally worried that I am going to wake up one day and there will be no money in my bank account. I read today that the judge will most likely approve this action. Terrified! |
| rock... | So sad to see how incredibly ignorant 53% of your readers are (those answering "no". They would rather continue with waste and fraud to limit DOGE access to the same information thousands of IRS employees have access to? Do we know any of those employees that have access to the same information? Do we vet them or elect them? NO. |
| avcv... | Controls should already be in place so I have no concerns. And private businesses live in fear of audits from various government entities, so it is perfectly acceptable for the government to also be audited. |
| sjlb... | The privacy act of 1974 provides protection to all against improper access and use of personal protected information. This should guide all activity. Also, DOGE is not an official Governmental Agency, and based on leadership’s inclination, could act outside the boundaries of what is acceptable. It is concerning when the auditor takes on management’s responsibility for the duty of care and reasonableness. |
| to55... | Stating fraud as a reason to invade the privacy of millions of tax paying americans is a total BS story to intrude on our protectectd financial information that is constitutuionally protected . Who is gonna save the the taxpayers of this country from government intrusion ? The Doge invasion has just began , this 1984 ish style of Big Brother is watching us is the scariest scenerio we have had in this country since mcarthiesm pummeled our citizens into fear and paranoia .Where is it gonna stop ? |
| kmcc... | If everyone was properly vetted (security clearance) and approved without any conflicts of interests and with FULL transparency (not just saying there is fraud to the news or posting it on social media). Then ok. But we as the American people are being taking advantage of! We do not know who now has our information and what they plan on using it for. Neither do we know where this information is bring stored or how secure it is. We need checks and balances! |
| brod... | Efforts to eliminate fraud should be much more specifically targeted. Giving wholesale records access to Elon Musk would be foolhardy. |
