Internal Revenue The service is phasing out a controversial facial recognition system that required people to upload selfie videos when creating a new IRS online account.
“The IRS has announced it is switching from using third-party services to face recognition to help authenticate new online account creators,” the agency said on Monday. “The transition will take place in the coming weeks to prevent greater disruption to taxpayers during the filing season. During the transition, the IRS will rapidly develop and bring online a verification process. supplementary facts unrelated to face recognition.“
The IRS has been using a third-party system ID.me for facial recognition of taxpayers. Privacy and civil rights advocates as well as lawmakers from both major parties have opposed the system. The IRS does not require ID.me verification for tax returns but does require it to access related services, As if account information, sign up for online payment plans, request transcripts, and the Child Tax Credit Update Portal.
The ID.me system is “using Amazon’s controversial Rekognition technology” and verified the selfies of 20.9 million users on January 25, Bloomberg wrote. The Treasury Department last year signed a two-year contract, $86 million with the vendor to implement and maintain the ID.me software.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is among those summon on the IRS to get rid of the system. “The Treasury Department made the smart decision to direct the IRS to transition away from using the controversial ID.me verification service, as I requested earlier today,” Wyden said. speak following Monday’s announcement. “I understand the transition can take time, but I appreciate the administration’s recognition that privacy and security are not mutually exclusive and that no one should be forced to follow facial recognition to access critical government services.”
The IRS process involves uploading an ID photo (such as a license or passport) along with selfie videoare compared against each other to verify the user’s identity. ID.me explained that, if the process fails, “you will be directed to verify your identity via video call with Trusted Referral ID.me … You will need to present your identification give your Trusted Referee ID.me along with a selfie (photo of yourself) to complete your identity verification.”
ID.me verification was required for new IRS account creators. There is a phased approach for those who have previously created an online IRS account — IRS said in November that those people can use their login information until the summer of 2022 and will be “prompted to create an ID.me account as soon as possible.”
ONE group of 15 Republican senators wrote a letter to IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig last week, saying, “The IRS has unilaterally decided to allow an outside contractor to act as a gatekeeper between the public and needed government services.” The senators objected to “intrusive verification measures” and the fact that “ID.me is not subject to the same surveillance rules as a government agency.”
Another letter urging the IRS to abandon facial recognition technology is send monday by four House Democrats. “Americans will be forced to put sensitive data in biometric databases, which is a prime goal of Cyber attack,” they wrote.
Democrats illustrated the risk by pointing to a 2019 cyberattack that targeted a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) subcontractor. [that] expose images of faces and license plates of thousands of American tourists. The subcontractor’s cyberattack and its aftermath were significant, but the cybersecurity risks with the IRS plan are far greater: millions of Americans use the IRS website every year for a variety of critical functions. and so each of them will be forced to trust a private contractor with some of their most sensitive data. “
