Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency wants more power and more data. DOGE has attempted to defy a court order to access Social Security data. It has forced or tried to force access to IRS data systems, Medicare data, SEC data, National Labor Relations Board data, and Education Department student data, among other things.

DOGE is working with the Peter Thiel-founded company Palantir to enable the IRS data to interface with other systems, only one of several projects to centralize the troves of information the government collects on essentially every individual, business or nonprofit entity.

When people think of the hallmarks of open and democratic systems of government, they probably think of things like independent courts, equal protection under the law, competitive elections and so on, which are all certainly critical parts of a democratic system. Way down the list is something as abstract as data segregation and protection, which is a shame because that is a crucial aspect of keeping an accountable government.

When you provide your tax returns, your health info, your education data and all else that you are compelled to give, you’re doing so at some level trusting that the data is going to be stored and used in the way that the government said it would, and that it won’t be up for grabs for whatever any given federal official wants to do with it, at any time.

To allow all of these streams to commingle without controls or dedicated uses is akin to the government dossiers that are so feared in authoritarian regimes, except that modern tech and data collection make it possible for the government to keep one on practically every person in the country. In this case, separate silos are better. There is no need for law enforcement to have ready access to tax or health records absent a court order.

The feds are arresting permanent residents for disfavored speech. They have cancelled reportedly thousands of international student visas in a process that appears largely automatic. They have gone after law firms and universities that have supported causes or engaged in work that the administration finds politically dangerous.

President Donald Trump is now talking about sending U.S. citizens to a Salvadoran gulag, claiming implausibly that these will only be criminals, after the administration already failed to provide any due process for hundreds of Venezuelans sent there.

In this context, DOGE’s enthusiasm for data collection and centralization — under the direction of openly ideologically-driven officials like Musk — has too many downsides. Imagine a future where some political functionary can hone in on a public critic of the administration and instantly search all of their health information, their assets, their labor history, their known connections and so on, no warrant or public acknowledgement necessary.

These dangers have long been predictable, which is why there are myriad laws prohibiting this type of mass data sharing within the government, laws which it now seems to be gleefully violating. It will be very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle once these databases are all connected. Now’s the time to stop it.

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