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America.gov's mandated Login.gov backend already runs a 20-year tracking cookie

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GoKawiil Brief

The Trump administration's new America.gov portal, built as a unified gateway to federal services, is required by executive order to use Login.gov for authentication. Public Login.gov source code shows the National Design Studio has added code generating a long-lived browser identifier that feeds into Login.gov's analytics, even though America.gov's own privacy materials say it avoids advertising cookies and third-party trackers.

Why It Matters

GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.

The gap between America.gov's public privacy promises and the tracking code embedded in the authentication system it must use suggests the portal's privacy posture could depend entirely on backend components outside its own stated policies. Because the executive order mandates GSA integrate Login.gov as the authentication layer for a growing list of federal agencies and services, any tracking mechanism there could scale across the entire federal digital footprint rather than staying confined to one site. The order's assurance of 'privacy-preserving' integration and its limits on cross-agency data access may not address identifiers persisting at the shared authentication layer itself.

Key Takeaways

Source: biometricupdate.com — Anthony Kimery, 2026-10-02

Published there as: “A 20-year-long permanent cookie: America.gov and tracking”

Read the original report → The summary and analysis above are GoKawiil's own, written from reporting by the source above. Facts and quotes belong to the original publisher.