Remember that Instagram meme you liked four years ago? Maybe it showed a cat wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses. Or it could have been a quippy piece of social commentary that was relevant at the time. Oh, you can’t quite picture it? Don’t worry, because the government can – in microscopic detail.
A state of surveillance or appropriate risk monitoring?
Since taking office in January 2025, the Trump administration has slowly but surely increased surveillance on the lives of ordinary Americans – particularly by making changes to the way personal data is collected and used.
In September, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that his department would “most certainly be denying visas” to people it deemed to be “celebrating” the murder of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk on social media.
This isn’t the first time a US official has promised severe consequences for individuals exercising their right to freedom of speech. The same has already been rumoured for those expressing their solidarity with Gaza and criticising Israel online. So what you might have considered an innocent repost of a news story by a Middle Eastern outlet, or an absent-minded like of a dark-humoured meme, could soon be used against you.
Is US data at risk?
The Trump administration is no stranger to intruding on the private lives of its citizens. Earlier this year, an unprecedented move from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Government Efficiency saw personal data from hundreds of millions of Americans aggregated into what’s being called “national data banks”.
Backlash was immediate, with a class action lawsuit being filed in September arguing that this move put sensitive data at serious risk and “arbitrarily intruded” on people’s private affairs. Concerns have also been raised about the potential disenfranchisement of eligible voters. The new data bank allows the federal government to search Social Security numbers in order to check citizenship status – but without a proper risk assessment in place for the tools being used, there’s no telling how many errors this data could throw up.
Secondary data abuse is growing
The potential for errors isn’t the only worry though. Under Trump’s watch, secondary data abuse has become increasingly common. This occurs when personal data provided for a specific reason is repurposed by the same agency, a different agency, or a completely separate entity for another goal.
For example, the IRS has begun sharing taxpayer data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement – a move that has led to numerous legal and ethical clashes internally. Similarly, immigrant healthcare information recorded on Medicaid was passed to deportation officials.
As any discerning person who’s ever read the basic terms and conditions on a form should know, personal data can only legally be used for the purpose it was collected – making these cases serious infringements.
Fasthosts – where data privacy matters
In a world where data violations and cybersecurity incidents are becoming increasingly common, we’re reaffirming our commitment to your data sovereignty.
We’re so confident in our UK-based data centres that we even invite our customers to tour them from time to time. Plus, they run on 100% green energy – that’s full power, without the steep environmental cost. Want to keep your business’ data from falling into the wrong hands? Get in touch with our expert team today.
