It's dangerous and it's going to erode trust': redesign of US government websites stokes surveillance fears

[liberalgunwilltravel]

Source: The Guardian

An opaque White House office staffed largely by veterans of Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) has quietly rebuilt some of the federal government’s most sensitive websites – for passport applications, voter registration, prescription-drug pricing and children’s savings – in ways critics say appear to violate federal law.

The National Design Studio (NDS) was established by a Donald Trump executive order last August, and is led by Trump-aligned Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and staffed by Doge veterans.

A Guardian investigation has found the office has apparently been developing or redeveloping sensitive federal websites, including those connecting Americans with prescription drugs, children’s savings accounts, passports and voter registration. The investigation corroborates and advances earlier reporting by the Drey Dossier, a YouTube investigative outlet.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/28/government-website-visitor-tracking-surveillance-fears

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This is absolutely terrifying and illegal.

[republianmushroom]

1. Trust this administration, govt., who and hell is that dumb ?

[TommyT139]

2. Such an important story.

Read the whole thing and it's clear that more than the named programs are involved. Anyone use Login_dot_gov, for instance? (Not typing it out to prevent unintentional clicking.)

DOGE is still working its evil...and sending our most personal data to unnamed "outside vendors."

And there are what look like...what, spoof sites? Or clones that are ready to replace the authentic legal sites currently in operation? Please explain this, from the article:

Separately, the NDS has also built and runs White House-controlled versions of services the US Congress assigned to other federal agencies, including a passport-application portal that bypasses the state department’s existing site, and a copy of voter-registration site vote.gov.

Combined, the sites route sensitive interactions Americans have with their government through infrastructure the White House apparently controls, and outside the reporting and accountability systems that normally cover federal agencies.

[RandomNumbers]

3. This is the stuff that's even worse than the War on Iran

because it is happening under the radar.

And the War on Iran was a colossal strategic fuck up in addition to being morally heinous.

[Solly Mack]

4. ...

[highplainsdem]

5. Illegal as hell.

[erronis]

6. A very important story. They have invented a shadow government web

that can be quickly inserted in place of the existing sites when maximum disruption is wanted.

Say during elections?

[Karasu]

7. Yes, WE all know it's illegal. That's par for the fucking course. Fascists don't care.

[summer_in_TX]

8. I recently went to WhiteHouse.gov to comment on something. They wanted my email address first.

I was able to bypass the popup and get to the comment form without giving my address by erasing everything after whitehouse.gov/ and adding comment after the slash. It was a guess, but that worked.

Comment forms do request identity, and it can't be submitted without it. I had a sense that the new popup was likely more directly tied into DOGE than the form which pre-existed DOGE. But who knows?