Another Lawsuit - and another

From the San Francisco Chronicle: ...The University of California’s student government sued the U.S. Department of Education Friday, accusing the office of illegally sharing the personal financial information of millions of student loan borrowers with Elon Musk and other private individuals who are unauthorized to see the data.

The lawsuit by the UC Student Association — representing 230,000 undergraduates, 70% of whom receive federal student aid — asks a federal judge in Washington D.C. to stop the Education Department from sharing the information with Musk and other unknown people affiliated with President Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

In addition to students’ names, addresses and phone numbers, the data for roughly 42 million borrowers includes bank account information, Social Security numbers, tax identification numbers, credit reports, drivers licenses and personal signatures — as well as similar information for family members, the suit says...

Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/uc-lawsuit-elon-musk-20154087.php.

Note: It is also reported that a judge has blocked Musk/DOGE from access to US Treasury records. That decision may or may not render the UC lawsuit moot, at least for a temporary period. From the NY Times: A federal judge early Saturday temporarily restricted access by Elon Musk’s government efficiency program to the Treasury Department’s payment and data systems, saying there was a risk of “irreparable harm.”

The Trump administration’s new policy of allowing political appointees and “special government employees” access to these systems, which contain highly sensitive information such as bank details, heightens the risk of leaks and of the systems becoming more vulnerable than before to hacking, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer said in an emergency order.

Judge Engelmayer ordered any such official who had been granted access to the systems since Jan. 20 to “destroy any and all copies of material downloaded from the Treasury Department’s records and systems.” He also restricted the Trump administration from granting access to those categories of officials... The situation could pose a fundamental test of America’s rule of law. If the administration fails to comply with the emergency order, it is unclear how it might be enforced... 

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/nyregion/attorneys-general-trump-musk-suit.html.