The IRS’ move to require some taxpayers to use facial recognition to identify themselves is reigniting a debate over how the government should use such technology.
Why it matters: Critics warn that, without sufficient guardrails, information collected by one agency for a seemingly benign purpose could easily be re-used in other ways.
Driving the news: The IRS will soon require taxpayers to provide a third-party company — ID.me — with a combination of documents and a video selfie to verify their identity before undertaking certain online interactions with the agency.
What they’re saying: “This announcement signals one of the largest expansions of facial recognition technology in the U.S. and there is no question that it will harm peoples’ privacy,” says Caitlin Seeley George, campaign director at Fight For the Future.
- ID.me’s terms of service, she notes, give the company the right to share peoples’ data with police, government and “select partners.”
Critics see red flags in the involvement of a private company in general, and also raise questions regarding ID.me specifically.
- “When ID.me was rolled out for state unemployment benefits we heard from many people who had issues with the system,” Seeley George said. “Not only is it an issue that ID.me misidentifies people of color, gender-nonconforming people and women, but this system requires people to have a smart phone or a web camera in order to submit photos, which means economically disadvantaged and older people…
