Lawmakers urge IRS to cancel its agreement with ID.me, the face recognition company promising to verify the identity of the taxpayer with a selfie.
Four Democrats in Congress wrote to IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig on Monday calling on the agency to stop using face recognition technology for taxpayers linked to their IRS.gov accounts, citing privacy, data security and access concerns. people without internet access.
“[M]Millions of Americans use the IRS website every year for a variety of vital functions, and as a result, each of them will be forced to trust a private contractor with some of their most sensitive data, ”said Ted Lieu, Anna Eshoo, Pramila Jayal Yvette Clarke wrote in a letter to Rettig: “We urge the IRS to stop this plan and consult with a wide variety of stakeholders before deciding on an alternative.”
Lawmakers said using a third party to verify their taxpayers’ identities endangered them by gathering sensitive information in a biometric database that would be a “primary target for cyber attacks”. They report a 2019 incident in which the computer system of a government contractor was breached, exposing the faces and license plates of thousands of Americans.
At the same time, the verification software “discriminates against those who can not afford the reliable broadband connection and the required video capabilities,” they write.
“We are in the early stages of overseeing this issue and all options – from hearings to legislation – remain on the table,” Lieu told CBS MoneyWatch. His office has not contacted ID.me directly, he said.
ID.me CEO Blake Hall says “tens of thousands” of scammers have stopped
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Face recognition technology has generally been shown to be less accurate in identifying people with darker skin tones, as well as in the faces of black, Asian and Native Americans. Other factors, such as the lighting of a room or the appliance one uses, also play a role.
“For biometrics, lighting is a huge, huge challenge,” said Rick Song, CEO of the Persona authentication company. “Apart from skin tones, you also have a device challenge. If you use lower quality devices, it has a huge impact.”
“Lack of transparency”
ID.me has also confused how its technology works, according to lawmakers. The company has long argued that face-matching technology, used by more than half of the US’s unemployment systems and several federal agencies, is more expensive than other alternatives.
In particular, ID.me said it did not use a technology called “one-to-many” matching, which attempts to match a person’s face to an image database, which ID.me called “complex and problematic.”
But late last month, ID.me CEO Blake Hall backed down on that claim, acknowledging that ID.me uses one-to-many matching to check when an individual opens an account to protect themselves from fraudsters. try to register with multiple IDs. The admission came after internal discussions that ID.me’s public stance runs counter to its practices, Cyberscoop reported.
“Given these issues, it is simply wrong to force millions of Americans to trust this new protocol,” the lawmakers wrote.
On Monday afternoon, the IRS said it would do so deposit ID.me in the coming weeks and proceed to a different authentication process that did not involve face recognition.
An IRS spokesman told CBS MoneyWatch that the agency had long wanted to strengthen its security systems but had been hampered by a lack of funding from Congress for technology upgrades.
For now, anyone registering for their first IRS.gov account will need to go through ID.me verification. Taxpayers who have set up IRS.gov accounts in the past will be able to use their old links until this summer.
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