Somehow, the U.S. government always lags behind on technology. For example, facial recognition has serious faults. It’s often terrible at identifying anyone who isn’t a white man. This is due to racial bias in numerous areas of the technology pipeline, from exposure settings in cameras to the developers making this software being predominantly white men. But there are other problems with it too. For example, people really don’t like it.
No one wants to be tracked everywhere they go. It’s made worse when those doing the facial recognition tracking also have access to your private information, including Social Security number and credit history. While it’s not unreasonable to think the U.S. government may already have this, you wouldn’t expect an independent company to have that data. And yet, that’s exactly what the IRS previously intended to do this year. They wanted to force users to submit a photo of their face with their tax information, and requiring it to view that tax information. That’s problematic on its own, especially given the fact that it could lock some people out of their tax information. Making matters worse, it’s all done through a third party, ID.me. Fortunately, they scrapped the plan after significant backlash.
IRS’ Scrapped Identity Verification Process
There was a lot of confusion around the IRS’ new verification process. It would have required facial recognition for most online operations on the IRS website. Users would have had to submit their personal information, like their address, social security number, and a selfie to a third party company. ID.me would have been collecting the data to verify users on the IRS’ behalf. Without agreeing to that, you’d have to mail your taxes in.
The program was set to start this summer, so most taxes could have been filed this year without issue. However, making any payments to the IRS, or logging in to check the status of your return could have required the new facial recognition scanning.
ID.me
Other state agencies already use ID.me for facial recognition. People have been unhappy with it. In fact, California’s Employment Development Department is suing. Transgender and gender non-conforming people have complained it doesn’t recognize them, one saying they were locked out of their account for three days. A woman in New York claims she had to wait months to get her unemployment payments because of ID.me’s system. Furthermore, the company hasn’t always been up front or honest with users. They originally claimed that the only did 1:1 matching, comparing a selfie to an ID photo. Then they admitted they do the far less private and reliable 1:many matching, which can use multiple photos to compare to someone.
“ID.me does not use 1:many facial recognition, which is more complex and problematic.”
– Blake Hall, ID.me founder and CEO
“ID.me uses a specific ‘1 to Many’ check on selfies tied to government programs targeted by organized crime to prevent prolific identity thieves and members of organized crime from stealing the identities of innocent victims en masse.”
-Blake Hall, less than a week later
It’s worth noting that, on top of all of that, they also may share some data with “select partners.”
Pushback
“If companies and the government have to lie about facial recognition in an effort to avoid public scrutiny, they shouldn’t be using it.”
– Caitlin Seeley George, Fight for the Future campaign director.
Multiple groups supporting online privacy and civil rights came forward. The ACLU, EFF, Fight for the Future, and others all spoke out against the IRS forcing people to submit to facial recognition from a third party they may not trust. Both major parties in the U.S., Republicans and Democrats alike, came forward to voice complaints about ID.me and the IRS. Today, the IRS listened and decided to abandon their plans to use ID.me, and are now searching for other solutions.
Avoiding Problems Like This
Facial recognition carries racial and gender bias. It invades our privacy. Unfortunately, everyone from roller rinks to police are using it, and it’s damaging people’s lives. The color of your skin, an injury, or a transition of your gender could lock you out from your accounts. Imagine not being able to submit your taxes or do your banking because you got a nose ring, or because you grew your hair out, or simply because of the color of your skin.
The IRS is moving away from using ID.me because people fought back. They told their representatives this wasn’t okay, they backed online petitions, and the Department of the Treasury listened.
“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.”
– IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig
It’s funny, if not for tax preparation companies, the IRS wouldn’t even have to do all of this. Most countries simply take your taxes out of your paycheck. You don’t have to report them or see if you can get a refund. The only time you have to submit anything is for deductions. However, tax preparation is a multi-billion dollar business in the United States, so it’s not going away.
That is, I suppose, unless we make a big stink about that too.
Sources:
- Peter Butler, Clifford Colby, CNET
- I. Bonifacic, Engadget
- Bennett Cyphers, Adam Schwartz, and Nathan Sheard, Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Mack DeGeurin, Gizmodo
- Corin Faife, The Verge
- Jonathan Greig, ZDNet
- James Hendler, Slate
- K. Holt, Engadget
- Jennifer Lewke, News10NBC
- M. Moon, Engadget
- Emma Roth, The Verge
- Vanessa Taylor, Mic