The article highlights the Trump administration's alarming misuse of confidential data, exemplified by two recent incidents: unsolicited texts targeting Jewish academics at Barnard College, and the announcement of an autism registry based on private health records.
The Trump administration, under the guise of combating antisemitism, requested contact information from Barnard College, prompting unsolicited texts to faculty and staff asking about their religious affiliation. This action is particularly concerning given Trump's history of accusations against Jews being disloyal.
The National Institutes of Health, under the direction of Jay Bhattacharya, announced a registry of individuals with autism, to be compiled from confidential health records, raising fears of privacy violations and misuse of data, particularly given HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s known anti-vaccine stance.
The announcement came shortly after Kennedy's inflammatory comments on autism, adding to the concerns within the autism advocacy community. The HHS later walked back the statement regarding the registry.
The article further discusses the Trump administration's broader pattern of deleting statistical records, including demographic data on transgender Americans and exploiting private tax data for political purposes, which has troubling historical parallels. These actions undermine public trust and impede the government's ability to collect necessary data for social programs and economic oversight.
The article mentions legal challenges to these data abuses and stresses the need for upholding the rule of law to protect citizen's privacy and ensure responsible government data practices.