The IRS was going to do what now?

| February 7, 2022

After some backlash, the IRS is scrapping plans to require taxpayers to send their face to a third-party company to verify identity. I really can’t believe such ideas make it out of a brainstorming session. Meanwhile, asking for ID to vote is racist.

ninja sends in the Washington Post’s coverage;

The Internal Revenue Service has abandoned its plan to require millions of Americans to submit to a facial recognition check through a private company to access their online tax accounts following a firestorm of criticism from privacy advocates and members of Congress.

The IRS said Monday it would “transition away” from using a face-scanning service offered by the company ID.me in the coming weeks and would develop an additional authentication process that does not involve facial recognition. The IRS said it would also continue to work with “cross-government partners” on additional methods of authentication, but it did not provide a precise time frame for the change or say what the additional authentication process might entail.

The agency originally had said that starting this summer all taxpayers would need to submit a “video selfie” to ID.me to access their tax records and other services on the IRS website. But lawmakers and advocates slammed the idea of mandating the technology’s use nationwide, saying it would unfairly burden Americans without smartphones or computer cameras, would make sensitive data vulnerable to hackers and would subject people of color to a system known to work less accurately on darker skin.

“The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in a statement announcing the decision. “Everyone should feel comfortable with how their personal information is secured, and we are quickly pursuing short-term options that do not involve facial recognition.”

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of nearly two dozen members of Congress who had urged the IRS to halt the plan, said in a statement Monday, “I appreciate that the administration recognizes that privacy and security are not mutually exclusive and no one should be forced to submit to facial recognition to access critical government services.”

Earlier Monday, Wyden had urged the IRS in a letter to abandon working with ID.me, calling it “simply unacceptable to force Americans to submit to scans using facial recognition technology as a condition of interacting with the government online.”

“The infrastructure that powers digital identity, particularly when used to access government websites, should be run by the government,” he wrote.

The government runs a separate sign-in service, Login.gov, whose leaders told The Washington Post last week that they would not use facial recognition until a “rigorous review has given us confidence that we can do so equitably and without causing harm to vulnerable populations.”

IRS and Treasury officials did not respond to questions of how the change could affect the two-year, $86 million contract that Treasury signed with ID.me last summer, or what would happen with the personal or facial data that Americans have submitted to ID.me already.

There’s more at the source, but it might be behind a paywall. I personally like the Disable Javascript extension for such sites.

Category: "Teh Stoopid", "Your Tax Dollars At Work", Government Incompetence

19 Comments
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gitarcarver

Well, if the IRS gets those 80,000 extra agents as part of the “Buy Back Better” plan (or another iteration of it,) they won’t care about taxpayers at all other than as a source of revenue.

Anonymous

Ha, you’re funny! They don’t give a rat’s butt about ’em now as it is.

Last edited 2 years ago by Anonymous
gitarcarver

It was meant as sarcasm. 🙂

NHSparky

Meanwhile, just freezing or draining your bank accounts is still totally cool.

ninja

Letter sent 3 February 2022 to the IRS. The Senators ask alot of hard questions:

“Republicans Raise Serious Concerns With Intrusive IRS Identity Verification Measures”

https://www.finance.senate.gov/ranking-members-news/republicans-raise-serious-concerns-with-intrusive-irs-identity-verification-measures

Mason commented:

“I really can’t believe such ideas make it out of a brainstorming session. Meanwhile, asking for ID to vote is racist.”

Here is one of questions that was addressed to the IRS:

“How did the IRS decide to require taxpayers to submit their personal information, including biometric data, to an outside vendor, in order to access certain online IRS resources? ”

Thank You, Mason, for posting. You nailed it with ID for voting comment. Ironically, what the IRS wanted to do “would subject people of color to a system known to work less accurately on darker skin.”

KoB

“…can’t believe such ideas make it out…” Probably cause somebody in that brainstorming session has either a relative at, or owns stock in the ID.me Corp. Hey, what’s another $86 millions of US Tax $s pissed away? A mere drop in the bucket of the 30 TRILLIONS that is the National Debt. What’s the big deal, the IRS already knows everything about all of us down to and including condom/tampon size? Oh, yeah, it discriminates against POC because the system can’t discriminate darker shades. Imagine that!

Maybe if that specific number that was used to ID a person, strictly for SSAN (Social Security Account Number) purposes, hadn’t been used as a catchall for ID purposes, and the whole world didn’t have access to it, maybe, just maybe, identity theft wouldn’t have become such an issue.

You know, asking “How much more stupid can the grubermint get?” shouldn’t be taken by them as a challenge.

Anonymous

Like Brad Pitt said in Fury:

“You think it can’t get worse– it can and it will.”

Berliner

Just say no… “Users who sign up for ID.me also have to agree to a mandatory arbitration provision, giving up their right to sue the company in court or join a class-action lawsuit if, for instance, their identity is stolen.

Anonymous

BOHICA!

ninja

Well, this is interesting. From 27 January 2022:

“The $86 million ID.me contract with the IRS also has alarmed researchers and privacy advocates who say they worry about how Americans’ facial images and personal data will be safeguarded in the years to come. There is no federal law regulating how the data can be used or shared.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/01/27/irs-face-scans/

86 Million Dollars? So now what since the idea has been scrapped?

We checked the IRS website…and sure enough, the IRS posted in November 2021 the instructions on using facial recognition.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-unveils-new-online-identity-verification-process-for-accessing-self-help-tools

*Don’t Let Big Brother Watch*

Ret_25X

I can tell you where this came from…Janet Yellen.

26Limabeans

She has nice hair…

ChipNASA

um…(S)he?

Barney-Spittake-HIMYM.gif
Last edited 2 years ago by ChipNASA
5JC

Still wondering about whatever happened to the investigation of the Clinton Foundation for Pay to Play, that the IRS started 6 years ago and suddenly has no record of ever doing.

ChipNASA

You know what? Hey IRS, I’ll talk to my CPA and see what his advice is about this.
I’m really hoping it’s something along the lines of this…

my-butthole-what-would-you-say-is-your-best-quality-31933069.png
26Limabeans

Why the photo? They already have the DNA from Ancestrydotcom. And your drivers license and your
PX card. Don’t try to fool them with a voter ID though.

Poetrooper

The VA is also using ID.me as a means of signing in to your account. When ol’ Poe began the signup process last year, ID.me wanted his SSN and uploads of his driver’s license and his DD-214. The VA already has my SSN and DD-214 so the DL would provide an excellent way for an identity thief to authenticate himself.

Poe told them to pound sand and guess what…suddenly the driver’s license was no longer a requirement. They’re looking to obtain as much private information as possible, but only if it doesn’t interfere with their bottom line, which you can bet is impacted by their total sign-up stats.

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

The IRA wants facial biometrics recognition?
Will a mask work for ya?
I know that would be my first attempt, wearing a 3D mask to cover most of my face beyond recognition.
Let the IRS read and record that.
Just be sure to haqve the same mask by your computer every time you want to log onto an IRS monitored site.

rgr769

Because of the blow back, the IRS has cancelled this program from their good idea fairies. But not to worry, the swamp has another way to waste our tax dollars; they are going to pay for crackpipes to hand out to the drug addicted along with syringes and clean injection needles. Maybe some homeless modern-day Picasso will break off the bowl and use that glass straw to start making some Hunter-style modern art.