General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRemember Trump announced early on the updating of all the government websites? Well,
you won't be surprised to know that the new .gov websites (most of which haven't yet launched) are designed to illegally harvest user information on a massive scale.
Some of the independent investigative journalists on Substack have pieces out on it. The Drey Dossier, (Audrey Henson) utilizes an OSINT (open-source intelligence) methodology, analyzing publicly available financial documents and news reports.
She spotted at the bottom of Trump Rx a byline: Engineered in D.C. by National Design Studios. In inspecting the code behind the site she discovered some of the other entities being used.
I found a second vote.gov and it's registered to the White House
In inspecting the National Design Studio's website and related material, she found 40+ more new .gov websites listed but not active. "
every single one traced back to the same place, the Executive Office of the President. The National Design Studio had built pre-launch versions of websites belonging to other federal agencies and registered all of it to the White House."
Every one of them harvests user data, every keystroke, etc. a violation of federal law. The date is privately stored in Cloudflare servers.
They are expected to become active on July 4, 2026.
regnaD kciN
(27,723 posts)
do they mean while youre on their website, or do they mean these sites will install spyware in on your computer so that everything you do on your computer thereafter will be going straight to federal law enforcement?
summer_in_TX
(4,337 posts)mahina
(20,780 posts)aggiesal
(10,954 posts)Anytime you log into any .gov website (like this IRS link),
https://sa.www4.irs.gov/sso/login/IDME?op=signup&lang=,
you'll have to create a government account (called ID.me)! that you'll use every time you log into any .gov site.
Creating this account, you'll have to create it using your phone or a computer with a camera built in,
because the government will use your camera to take a selfie of you and compare it with the picture on your ID (Drivers License or Passport) that you have to upload.
This is the excuse, but what they're really doing with your selfie that they took, is create a facial recognition photo.
The SW used to take your selfie is designed to calculate curves & undulations on your face, that they can't retrieve from your ID.
https://www.id.me/biometric
Think about the implications of that!
mahina
(20,780 posts)pat_k
(14,161 posts)Call your own rep and senators to ask if they are acting to guarantee that Federal websites are NOT illegally collecting information. If asked why be worried about this? Ask why, given the crimes this administration is committing in plain sight, they WOULDN'T be worried about this and want to make sure it is not happening?
If there is an email or fax contact, perhaps either email the following link or print and fax
https://thedreydossier.substack.com/p/i-found-a-second-votegov-and-its
(BTW, faxes are rarer and are more likely to be noticed. But many no longer make the fax number in their DC or state office public).
And if you are ambitious, contact the chair and ranking member (and others, particularly if you are also a constituent) of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (https://oversight.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/) and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/).
These are the committees that should be VERY concerned about illegal data collection by federal websites. When you contact a chair or ranking member, make sure you make it clear to the staff you speak to that you are contacting them in that capacity -- not as a constituent.
summer_in_TX
(4,337 posts)access to the site. I wasn't about to enter my email address and decided to see if I could find the Contact page on my own. I cleared out all but the exact website URL and added /contact. Luckily for me, that was the correct one so I was able to email my compaint.
liberalla
(11,262 posts)I'm sure all the info will also be fed into Palantir's surveillance program/database.