The article discusses the expansive collection of personal data by U.S. federal agencies, highlighting how various departments, from the IRS to DHS, gather extensive information on citizens. With the Trump administration's efforts fostering deeper access to this data, experts are alarmed about a possible shift towards a centralized surveillance state. The interaction of outdated laws and bureaucracies has historically kept these data sources discrete; however, recent developments suggest a convergence that could threaten citizen privacy and civil liberties, igniting fears over government oversight and control of personal data.
The federal government is a veritable cosmos of information, made up of constellations of databases: The IRS gathers comprehensive financial and employment information from every taxpayer; the Department of Labor maintains the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) system, which collects personal information of many workers.
A fragile combination of decades-old laws, norms, and jungly bureaucracy has so far prevented repositories such as these from assembling into a centralized American surveillance state. But that appears to be changing.
Collection
[
|
...
]