This seems about par for the course with these guys. Scary stuff. I love how this administration uses the term "maximally transparent", or some derivation thereof everywhere they can. I guess if you say it enough, it must be true, right?
On Sat, Feb 15, 2025 at 5:59 PM Ken Hohhof <khoh...@kwom.com> wrote: > https://www.wired.com/story/doge-website-is-just-one-big-x-ad/ > > > > DOGE’s Website Is Just One Big X Ad > > *The source code for the new Department of Government Efficiency’s > “official US government website” points to X as its primary source of > authority, while sharing links to the site sends users to x.com > <http://x.com>.* > > > > At a press conference in the Oval Office > <https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/12/tech/elon-musk-x-oval-office/index.html> > this > week, Elon Musk promised the actions of his so-called Department of > Government Efficiency (DOGE) <https://www.wired.com/tag/doge/> project > would be “maximally transparent,” thanks to information posted to its > website. > > At the time of his comment, the DOGE website was empty > <https://bsky.app/profile/joncooper-us.bsky.social/post/3lhwsmk4iac2u>. > However, when the site finally came online Thursday morning, it turned out > to be little more than a glorified feed of posts from the official DOGE > account on Musk’s own X platform, raising new questions about Musk’s conflicts > of interest in running DOGE > <https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/nx-s1-5293382/x-elon-musk-doge-cfpb>. > > DOGE.gov claims to be an “official website of the United States > government,” but rather than giving detailed breakdowns of the cost savings > and efficiencies Musk claims his project is making, the homepage of the > site just replicated posts from the DOGE account on X. > > A WIRED review of the page’s source code shows that the promotion of > Musk’s own platform went deeper than replicating the posts on the homepage. > The source code shows that the site’s canonical tags > <https://moz.com/learn/seo/canonicalization> direct search engines to > x.com rather than DOGE.gov. > > A canonical tag is a snippet of code that tells search engines what the > authoritative version of a website is. It is typically used by sites with > multiple pages as a search engine optimization tactic, to avoid their > search ranking being diluted. > > In DOGE’s case, however, the code is informing search engines that when > people search for content found on DOGE.gov, they should not show those > pages in search results, but should instead display the posts on X. > > “It is promoting the X account as the main source, with the website > secondary,” Declan Chidlow, a web developer <https://vale.rocks/>, tells > WIRED. “This isn't usually how things are handled, and it indicates that > the X account is taking priority over the actual website itself.” > > Advertisement > > All the other US government websites WIRED checked used their own homepage > in their canonical tags, including the official White House website. > Additionally, when sharing the DOGE website on mobile devices, the source > code creates a link to the DOGE X account rather than the website itself. > > “It seems that the DOGE website is secondary, and they are prodding people > in the direction of the X account everywhere they can,” Chidlow adds. > > Alongside the homepage feed of X posts, a section of Doge.gov labeled > “Savings” now appears. So far the page is empty except for a single line > that reads: “Receipts coming soon, no later than Valentine's day,” followed > by a heart emoji > <https://www.wired.com/story/heart-emoji-lost-all-meaning/>. > > A section entitled “Workforce” features some bar charts showing how many > people work in each government agency, with the information coming from > data gathered by the Office of Personnel Management in March 2024. > > A disclaimer at the bottom of the page reads: “This is DOGE's effort to > create a comprehensive, government-wide org chart. This is an enormous > effort, and there are likely some errors or omissions. We will continue to > strive for maximum accuracy over time.” > > Another section, entitled “Regulations,” features what DOGE calls the > “Unconstitutionality Index,” which it describes as “the number of agency > rules created by unelected bureaucrats for each law passed by Congress in > 2024.” > > The charts in this section are also based on data previously collected by > US government agencies. Doge.gov also links to a Forbes article from last > month that was written by Clyde Wayne Crews, a member of the Heartland > Institute, a conservative think tank that pushed climate change > disinformation > <https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/heartland-institute-leak-exposes-strategies-of-climate-attack-machine/> > and > questioned the links between tobacco and lung cancer > <https://www.tobaccotactics.org/article/heartland-institute/>. It is also > a major advocate for privatizing government departments > <https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/in-shift-key-climate-denialist-group-heartland-institute-pivots-to-policy/> > . > > The site also features a “Join” page which allows prospective DOGE > employees to apply for roles including “software engineers, InfoSec > engineers, and other technology professionals.” As well as requesting a > Github account and résumé, the form asks visitors to “provide 2-3 bullet > points showcasing exceptional ability.” > > The website does not list a developer, but on Wednesday, web application > security expert Sam Curry outlined in a thread on X > <https://x.com/samwcyo/status/1889527715029557607> how he was able to > identify the developer of the site as DOGE employee Kyle Shutt. > > Curry claims he was able to link a Cloudflare account ID found in the > site’s source code to Shutt, who used the same account when developing Musk’s > America PAC > <https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-america-pac-election-denial-community-x/> > website. > > On Thursday, Drop Site News > <https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/doge-fema-funding-access-social-security-numbers> > reported, > citing sources within FEMA, that Shutt had gained access to the agency’s > proprietary software controlling payments. Earlier this week, Business > Insider reported > <https://www.businessinsider.com/doge-staff-list-white-house-2025-2> that > Shutt, who recently worked at an AI interviewing software company, was > listed as one of 30 people working for DOGE. > > Neither Shutt, DOGE, nor the White House responded to requests for comment. > > > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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