Lately, a few preachers have decided to try to catch folks a day early and a new infomercial seems to bounce from channel to channel with almost the ubiquity of that dentist selling implants. It carries the ominous warning: “Who Has Access to Your Data?”

The good folks at Norton promise just the kind of cybersecurity that all of us desire – unlike one of their competitors who hacks onto my screen to warn me of a red alert danger which it seems to be creating on the spot.

There are bad guys [and gals, I’m sure] out there who spend their energies trying to steal anything they can from anybody in range. [Never say “Yes” to a robo-caller.] The Internet puts everyone in range.

But a corollary to that was the availability of addresses of very famous people ordering or receiving those moist, delicious treats. Some of the temps would snag an address to use to send fan mail. [Dean Martin comes to mind.]

That was just an address. Imagine the temptation facing a young, freelance Department of Government Efficiency raider never subject to a security clearance to “play” with the financial records of the rich and famous – or enemies of the first felon. Or the additional info one might gather to further invade their privacy.

With the slightest bit of information, crooks can drain our bank accounts. It happened to me and I buy nothing online. Somebody got my account number and did a number on me. It took three diligent bank employees all morning to straighten things out – and they assured me there was almost no chance of the perpetrator being apprehended.

So, we have just cause for concern when Elon Musk’s horde of young “efficiency” workers invade governmental agencies and claim control of the data therein.

Last week, Musk extended this data swiping to “sensitive and restricted IRS data,” according to USA Today, which followed that with an assessment that “Trump abdicated power to Musk. And now a 25-year-old may get access to your tax return.”

ABC News explained, “The system, known as the Integrated Data Retrieval System, is used by IRS employees to review tax information, issue notices and update taxpayer records.”

These files, “tightly controlled within the agency,” would fall into the hands of the richest man in the world, who has “alleged without evidence or examples of wrongdoing that federal workers were defrauding taxpayers.”

The danger inherent in dumping such data into Musk’s lap was expressed by Elizabeth Laird, a former state privacy officer now with the Center for Democracy and Technology:

“People who share their most sensitive information with the federal government do so under the understanding that not only will it be used legally, but also handled securely and in ways that minimize risks like identity theft and personal invasion, which this reporting brings into serious question.”

According to ABC, “When pressed by reporters on what checks are in place to ensure Musk – whose companies have billions of dollars in current federal contracts – is accessing data to his advantage, the billionaire insisted that DOGE posts all of its activity on its website ‘so all of our actions are maximally transparent.’”

Here is some maximal transparency.

Earlier this month, Musk’s DOGEs updated their website “to include information about the federal workforce across agencies, [which] contained details about the headcount and budget for the National Reconnaissance Office [NRO], an intelligence agency responsible for designing and maintaining U.S. intelligence satellites,” according to a review by ABC News.

ABC’s story continued: “John Cohen, an ABC News contributor and former acting undersecretary for intelligence and analysis at the Department of Homeland Security, said that anytime any details about U.S. citizens working for one of the intel agencies is released, it puts their safety in jeopardy.

“A former CIA official who served on classification review boards called the incident a ‘significant’ breach, ‘particularly if it involves the budget and personnel of the NRO,’ adding that ‘it could be even more significant if it involves declassifying sensitive information under executive authority.’”

The release of such information can prove deadly as in the case of Trump declassifying testimony during his first term that resulted in the disappearance of two sources of information from the Russian home of Puppet Master Putin.

Also at mid-month the top official at the Social Security Administration, Michelle King, quit in lieu of giving Musk’s minions her agency’s records.

NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor cited Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, as a source “familiar with the situation” who said “some of the information involved in the dispute included Americans’ bank information, Social Security numbers, earnings records, marital statuses, dates of birth and, in some cases, medical records if people have applied for disability benefits.”

Just because the majority – probably a very large majority – of us are not up to no good does not mean that we welcome unsolicited incursions into our private affairs.