The Hacker Quarterly
NOW ON STANDS!
Current issue: WINTER 2024-2025
NOW ON STANDS!
On March 6, 2025, we became aware of a list of names and government email addresses from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that was being passed around online. As is traditional with leaks of this nature, we shared it on our various social media platforms.
For the most part, this was met with positive feedback, as many believe DOGE has been operating under way too much secrecy, particularly for an organization that purports to function transparently. It also served to demonstrate how, despite their claims of being trustworthy with access to the most sensitive computer systems in the nation, they weren't able to safeguard this information from internal leaks within their own organization.
Not unpredictably, the positive feedback was quelled on Twitter (X). On March 8, 2025, our account was frozen and we were accused of spreading personal information without permission. We appealed, making the case that this was not personal information and that the public had the right to know who was working for/against them in the government. We were not in the least bit surprised to have that appeal denied without comment.
We want to be clear that we couldn't really care less about our Twitter presence, so this was mostly an amusing distraction for us. We do encourage everyone to follow us on Bluesky and Mastodon, where we actually engage in conversation and post announcements before they get auto-repeated onto Twitter. We strongly believe these are better platforms, but we will not (nor should anyone) shame you if you choose to continue being active on Twitter. We'll continue to try and reach all of our readers and followers no matter what level of Hell they choose to hang out in. But we ask that you consider making the move or at least trying out other options.
What's currently happening with us underlines why we're continuing to minimize our presence on Twitter. It's no secret that the Elon Musk who is in charge of DOGE is the same Elon Musk who is in charge of Twitter. The hypocrisy, conflict of interest, double standards, and abuse are phenomenal and these recent actions underline this. Serious instances of doxxing have occurred on Twitter without any action being taken. In some cases, they were even retweeted or approved of by Musk himself. But when public information from Musk's DOGE is shared, we're told it's a crime or threatened with all kinds of ominous actions. We're not impressed.
To be clear, government agencies, departments, organizations, and whatever the hell DOGE is - all have employee info open to the public. The FCC is but one example. Here is an easy way to find people there: www.fcc.gov/about-fcc/finding-people-fcc. Here is a staff listing from the Department of Health and Human Services: www.hhs.gov/ohrp/about-ohrp/staff. You can explore these sites for days on end (trust us). This is all standard information that's easily available or obtainable - the way it should be.
Since the folks at doge.gov have opted not to share this information while their actions affect everyone in this country (including tens of thousands of federal employees), and since we're apparently not permitted to share this info on Elon Musk's social media empire, we are making it available on our own servers - out of their reach. We don't have phone numbers, which is less than what most other such directories provide. We're sorry about that and will share those details if and when we get them.
If you have info you'd like to share with us or the world, you can either email webmaster@2600.com or for anonymity, follow the easy instructions to use our SecureDrop.
