yeah, super scary. boogeyman level On Sat, Feb 15, 2025, 6:17 PM Jason McKemie < j.mcke...@veloxinetbroadband.com> wrote:
> 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 >> > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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