Category Archives: ID.me

IRS To Ditch Biometric Requirement for Online Access

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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said today it will be transitioning away from requiring biometric data from taxpayers who wish to access their records at the agency’s website. The reversal comes as privacy experts and lawmakers have been pushing the IRS and other federal agencies to find less intrusive methods for validating one’s identity with the U.S. government online. Continue reading IRS To Ditch Biometric Requirement for Online Access→

IRS announces it will stop use of facial recognition for identity verification

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The Internal Revenue Service will transition away from using a third-party authentication service that deploys facial recognition technology in order to verify new online accounts, the agency announced Monday. The transition will take place “over the coming weeks in order to prevent larger disruptions to taxpayers during filing season,” an IRS news release states. The pullback of the plan comes in response to growing concerns from both advocates and lawmakers that the agency’s decision to put the biometric data of millions of Americans into the private sector’s hands could pose enormous privacy and security risks. The IRS said it is working on developing an authentication process that does not involve facial recognition and will continue to collaborate with government partners to develop new authentication methods to protect taxpayer data. “The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” said IRS Commissioner Charles […]

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Lawmakers want IRS to address security concerns with use of facial recognition on taxpayers

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Democrats and Republicans are turning up the pressure on the Internal Revenue Service to address privacy and security concerns with its plan to use facial recognition on millions of Americans who access the agency’s website for tax documents and payments. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked the agency Monday to reverse its decision and halt its work with facial-recognition-based identity verification provider, ID.me. “While the IRS had the best of intentions — to prevent criminals from accessing Americans’ tax records, using them to commit identity theft, and make off with other people’s tax refunds — it is simply unacceptable to force Americans to submit to scans using facial recognition technology as a condition of interacting with the government online, including to access essential government programs,” Wyden wrote in a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, shared with CyberScoop. The letter adds to a growing charge by both Democrats and Republicans demanding […]

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ID.me CEO backtracks on claims company doesn’t use powerful facial recognition tech

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Identity verification company ID.me uses a type of powerful facial recognition that searches for individuals out of mass databases of photos, CEO Blake Hall explained in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. The post follows a news release from the company last week stating directly that: “Our 1:1 face match is comparable to taking a selfie to unlock a smartphone. ID.me does not use 1:many facial recognition, which is more complex and problematic.” Privacy advocates say that both versions of facial recognition pose a threat to consumers. In addition to numerous studies demonstrating the technology is less effective on non-White skin tones, amassing biometric data can prove a huge security risk. “Governments and companies are amassing these databases of your personal biometric information, which unlike databases, of credit cards, cannot be replaced,” explained Caitlin Seeley-George, campaign director at nonprofit Fight for the Future. “And these are databases that are highly targeted […]

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IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access

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If you created an online account to manage your tax records with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), those login credentials will cease to work later this year. The agency says that by the summer of 2022, the only way to log in to irs.gov will be through ID.me, an online identity verification service that requires applicants to submit copies of bills and identity documents, as well as a live video feed of their faces via a mobile device. Continue reading IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access→

How $100M in Jobless Claims Went to Inmates

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The U.S. Labor Department’s inspector general said this week that roughly $100 million in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims were paid in 2020 to criminals who are already in jail. That’s a tiny share of the estimated tens of billions of dollars in jobless benefits states have given to identity thieves in the past year. To help reverse that trend, many states are now turning to a little-known private company called ID.me. This post examines some of what that company is seeing in its efforts to stymie unemployment fraud. Continue reading How $100M in Jobless Claims Went to Inmates→

Some federal websites now allowing users to login via secure USB keys

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For the first time, Americans will have the option to use a cryptographically secure USB keystick to protect their online accounts on federal government websites. Owners of online accounts protected by identity-proofing start up ID.me will be able to use keysticks conforming to the Universal Second Factor, or U2F, standard promulgated by the Fast IDentity Online, or FIDO Alliance, ID.me announced Tuesday. The option will be available to users alongside existing two-factor services, such as a code sent by SMS text message, or a call to a landline, the company said. It’s the first time U2F keysticks — considered a gold-standard protection against phishing and other forms of online identity theft — have been available to the users of federal online services. ID.me did not disclose the three federal agencies it said were buying the company’s identity proofing services — but it has in the past done very public work to provide veterans secure […]

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