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This seems too absurd to be true but it's apparently not even the most absurd bit of this law. The federal government is restricted from collecting PII on its own employees, which includes mere names and email addresses, without it being necessary to accomplish a purpose authorized by law or executive order.
The federal government is not one single organization. If you work for the VA or the USPS, you have as much right as any other US citizen not to have your PI (yes, even just your work email) handed over to the FBI or the IRS without going through proper authorization.
Why?
Why should a government agency need permission to access your data? I guess that's a question whose answer hinges on your opinion of the government and what its limits should be. But if you're okay with the FBI and the IRS and the NSA looking up anyone they want any time for any reason, sure, then federal employees should not be immune. Or are you arguing that by virtue of being a federal employee, you should not have the same privacy rights as other US citizens?
Why should the executive not be able to look up employee PI like emails.
Just like my CEO can look at my email and give it to anyone they damn want to in their company why can’t the president do the same?
It's not the President asking for the information, it's an anonymous email from OPM. Which, contrary to what people keep saying, is not the "HR department" for the federal government. They have zero authoriity to do this. Musk does not have unlimited authority, transferable to whoever he has sending emails from OPM, because Trump told him to "be more aggressive."
If they are executing a request from the President, the President needs to say so.
The President can presumably ask for anyone's .gov email address, but that's not what's happening here.
Sure you can say those things. It doesn’t make it true. Again you are suggesting that the OPM (an executive department within the WH) can’t get employee emails?
Are you sure they have zero authority?
Clearly the OPM can get emails because they spammed every .gov email they could get. I am sure that the OPM does not have the authority to demand activity reports from other agencies or threaten to fire people outside the OPM itself.
That's assuming we're actually following the law, that is. If you're asking me "Are you sure they can't get away with doing whatever Musk wants them to do because lol", no, I'm not sure. You can certainly take the position that laws are just words, words, words. It seems to be a pretty popular sentiment right now. May the victory you think this is prove to be so. I have doubts.
You and I continue to go down this silly path where you ascribe to me the belief that I think laws should be broken and I’m saying the laws aren’t really law because they violate the constitution.
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