[HN Gopher] Treasury reconsiders IRS's use of ID.me face recogni...
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Treasury reconsiders IRS's use of ID.me face recognition for web
Author : walterbell
Score : 57 points
Date : 2022-01-29 13:31 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
| monksy wrote:
| > LaManna noted that any taxpayer who does not want to use ID.me
| can opt against filing his or her taxes online.
|
| Do this or you can't use a government service online. Ok
| terrorist.
|
| > "We believe in the importance of protecting the privacy of
| taxpayers, while also ensuring criminals are not able to gain
| access to taxpayer accounts," LaManna added, arguing that it's
| been "impossible" for the IRS to develop its own cutting-edge
| identification program because of "the lack of funding for IRS
| modernization."
|
| Yea, sure trust a private org on data storage. Data breaches
| never happen..
| monksy wrote:
| I ended up contacting all of the senators on the finance
| committee (they're responsible for the IRS's ongoigns) I hope
| they took in heart my concerns about IDme being a piece in this
| data proxying/storage etc.
|
| Unfortunately: There were some senators who contact form was
| broken. (One in texas and I think one in wyomey was another..
| other than that I got responses of "we don't give responses to
| non-constituents)
| Klonoar wrote:
| Here's a novel idea: don't remove the existing
| email/password/secure-image combo. It works fine.
|
| You can search for something _more secure_ , sure - but don't
| break the damn system for the millions of people who need it and
| refuse to deal with ID.me.
| tims33 wrote:
| Totally agree. Makes me wonder what sort of back room dealing
| went on to select ID.me.
| brnaftr360 wrote:
| Why does the IRS even think they need this? I feel like this was
| developed from an incident at a stripclub after a ritzy dinner,
| which was then proceeded by hookers - and less to do with
| practical scrupulous enforcement of the tax code.
| chrismeller wrote:
| ID.me was one of the most ridiculous experiences I've ever gone
| through. I'm used to shitty service, particularly when dealing
| with the government, but waiting in the queue for the web chat
| for four hours, only to have it crash and make me re-join every
| day for two weeks is insane.
| djoldman wrote:
| id.me blog post: https://insights.id.me/featured-
| viewpoint/stopping-massive-f...
|
| One interesting quote is:
|
| > Does ID.me maintain a database of faces that map back to
| original photos and who has access to the database?
|
| > ID.me retains the selfie that was used during the identity
| verification process. ID.me is the only entity with access to
| this database. The only time biometric information is shared with
| a government agency is when there is apparent fraud and identity
| theft tied to the account associated with the agency.
|
| I wonder if id.me keeps a copy of the photo of the government ID.
| monksy wrote:
| I would be more surprised if they allowed for frequent
| believable audits that they don't.
| grammarnazzzi wrote:
| A lot of government agencies aren't too concerned with the
| quality of their services.
|
| Things that discourage people from using thier system just makes
| their life easier. Theres's no consequence to the department and
| it's not their problem.
| PopAlongKid wrote:
| I already had a photo-verified-in-person account with ID.me as
| part of obtaining my California REAL ID driver's license. This
| involved a passport, proof of residence address, and in person
| validation.
|
| Why was that not good enough for IRS?
| [deleted]
| hakfoo wrote:
| I'm mostly offended that they're using a third-party private
| service.
|
| We need a reliable link-to-meatspace authentication provider for
| the consumption of government services. That's obvious.
|
| But why are we outsourcing it to an external company, which may
| not be subject to the same purview as the government itself,
| particularly in terms of legally-mandated transparency,
| accountability, and universal service?
|
| I suspect half of this is anchored in the "mark of the beast"
| crowd who is terrified at the thought of any sort of coherent
| national identity document system. After all, if we had a central
| "Department of Identity" already, adding some sort of account
| system linked to the pre-authenticated passports and driver's
| licenses you already have would be trivial and within their
| wheelhouse.
| landemva wrote:
| Wondering why centralized department of identity is needed.
| Could it be decentralized?
| throwawaysea wrote:
| It is completely inappropriate for the government to force people
| to give up their privacy and share so much with a third party.
| And it is completely unethical for this company, Id.me, to pursue
| it. I already am able to use banks and other devices successfully
| without this service, and I used the IRS website fine as well.
| Why do this? It smells a lot like corruption.
| landemva wrote:
| ID.me gets paid via taxpayer funds. Each taxpayer can't line-
| item-veto the spend. Treasury has the budget to spend. Treasury
| gets to tell Congress 'security, good'.
|
| The spend cycle can slow if we radically reduce federal
| spending/income. Move truly necessary services to the States.
|
| That won't happen, so opt out. Structure your life to avoid
| qualifying as a person who files a return.
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(page generated 2022-01-29 23:00 UTC)