IRS identification demands smack of Big Brother
YES, this is ALL related…..
Surveys find 81 percent of U.S. adults support voter ID requirements. Yet President Joe Biden recently condemned state election integrity laws that strengthen voter ID protections and ensure the accuracy of voter registration rolls as “Jim Crow 2.0.” This supposed “threat to our democracy” is so grave that Biden equated those who support them with overt racists like Bull Connor and George Wallace.
But if the president thinks checking IDs and verifying voter rolls is racist, how can he condone the new IRS procedures requiring taxpayers to give a private company a copy of their government-issued photo ID — as well as their email address, phone number, Social Security Number and a video selfie taken with a smartphone or computer — before they can gain access to basic tax services on the IRS website?
The IRS’ demands of taxpayers smack more of dangerous Big Brotherism than racism. For example, if ID.me, the Virginia-based company being entrusted with taxpayers’ private information, is unable to verify users’ identity with the information, users will then have to join a video call with a “trusted referee” to “answer a few questions.”
ID.me will use the video selfies, which all users must provide, to collect biometric data, including voiceprints and facial geometry recognition. Taxpayers must sign a consent form for the company to collect this data, and the form allows ID.me to “reserve the right to change or modify this Biometric Consent.”
Many taxpayers won’t fully understand what information is being collected or how it will be used. How many people read all the consent forms they sign? Even if they do, taxpayers may have no choice but to consent if they need to access their online account, get their tax records, or update their child tax credit information.
Americans’ ability to interact with government for basic tax services will be filtered through a secret private algorithm. All told, the new system will determine taxpayers’ access to services that were used an estimated 60 million times last year. The IRS website also states that over the next year, additional IRS applications will transition to the new system.
In other words, in the name of protecting taxpayer information, the IRS will compel even more taxpayers to give away extremely personal information to a private company.
The IRS has a poor track record of safeguarding taxpayer information. In June 2021, ProPublica, a left-leaning news organization that somehow received private tax documents, released a report leaking information on the tax records of dozens of the wealthiest taxpayers. Nobody has been held accountable for the apparent felonious data leak or data breach.
Making a private company a gatekeeper to certain taxpayer information hardly guarantees such information is safe from future leaks or breaches. In 2017, the personal information of 147 million Americans was exposed when Equifax experienced a data breach.
Also consider the difference between how state voting laws come about compared to the IRS’ new procedures.
States that enact voter ID requirements or change other election laws must do so through the standard legislative process: elected representatives passing laws that are subject to all the legal checks and balances.
Yet Biden’s IRS will require taxpayer data to access basic tax functions with no new laws passed and no elected officials accountable for the change.
Which is more undemocratic?
The Biden IRS has consistently sought more power. Last fall, the Treasury Department pushed to allow the IRS to track the bank transactions of virtually all Americans, but the effort stalled when it was met with public outcry.
In the case of the new facial recognition requirements, though, the IRS is acting outside the legislative process, flexing its own power by imposing new information-sharing requirements on taxpayers.
When agencies like the IRS exert the power to trample on taxpayer privacy, it exposes the ever-increasing power of the executive branch, a flaw in the functioning of our democratic republic. In Biden’s words, “That’s the kind of power you see in totalitarian states, not in democracies.”
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Starting this summer (2022), taxpayers wanting to access their online accounts on IRS.gov will soon be required to take a selfie and verify their identity with ID.me.
Existing online accounts with IRS.gov, which require only an email and password to access, will no longer work as of the middle of 2022, the agency says.
The IRS says the move is necessary to protect taxpayers from potential identity theft, but privacy advocates say it’s invasive and point out that the company behind ID.me has a spotty record in verifying people’s identities.
The move “will only lead to further ruin for Americans when their data is inevitably breached,” Jackie Singh, director of technology and operations at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, said on Twitter.
https://www.fox6now.com/news/irs-to-start-requiring-facial-recognition-scans-to-access-tax-returns
The Internal Revenue Service is going to start requiring users of its online tax payment system to provide a selfie to a third-party company in order to access their accounts.
Beginning in summer 2022, users who need to log on to the IRS’ website to access the Child Tax Credit Update Portal, check online accounts, get their tax transcript, receive an Identity Protection PIN or view an online payment agreement will need to create an account with identity verification company ID.me.
Existing online accounts, which currently only require a simple email and password to access, will no longer work beginning this summer, the IRS said. At that point, users will be required to create an account with ID.me. A MASSIVE BREACH OF PERSONAL INFORMATION BY AN OUTSIDE COMPANY
“Identity verification is critical to protect taxpayers and their information,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a statement. “The IRS has been working hard to make improvements in this area, and this new verification process is designed to make IRS online applications as secure as possible for people.”
The IRS has stressed that individuals will not actually be required to go through ID.me or use facial-recognition software to submit their tax returns. But taxpayers will still be forced to use this software in order to take advantage of some of the IRS’ most basic tools. The agency is already urging taxpayers to create accounts “as soon as possible.”
“The IRS emphasizes taxpayers can pay or file their taxes without submitting a selfie or other information to a third-party identity verification company,” the agency said in a statement. “Tax payments can be made from a bank account, by credit card or by other means without the use of facial recognition technology or registering for an account.”
ID.me describes itself as a technology provider that offers secure identity verification by comparing a photo ID provided by users with a video selfie. It was launched in 2010 by military veteran Blake Hall and has quickly solidified its place in the identity-verification business, often on behalf of the U.S. government. Additional IRS tools will begin using ID.me verification “over the next year,” the IRS said.
Users must provide ID.me with an email address, Social Security number, photo ID and take a selfie with a camera that will scan the user’s face to verify their identity.
The news has prompted an outcry from privacy advocates, who have warned the practice is invasive and that the IRS is opening the doors to potential data breaches.
The decision “will only lead to further ruin for Americans when their data is inevitably breached,” Jackie Singh, director of technology and operations at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, wrote on Twitter. She called the practice “very bad,” and called on every “tech-aware American to fight it.”
THIS IS A MILITARY OPERATION
ID.me (formerly TroopSwap and Troop ID) is an American online identity network that allows people to prove their legal identity online. Their users can use that digital credential to access government services, healthcare logins, or discounts from retail brands.[1][2] ID.me is based in McLean, Virginia.[3]
In the wake of the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ID.me was contracted by numerous state unemployment agencies to verify the identities of claimants. During the COVID-19 recession, ID.me’s verification process in several states resulted in lengthy delays that prevented large numbers of legitimately unemployed individuals from accessing their benefits.
Origins as TroopSwap and Troop ID
ID.me was founded in early 2010 by Blake Hall and Matt Thompson as TroopSwap, a daily deals website similar to Groupon and LivingSocial with a focus on the American military community.[4][3] The company evolved into Troop ID, which provided digital identity verification for military personnel and veterans.[3] Troop ID allowed service members and veterans to access online benefits from retailers, such as military discounts, as well as government agencies like the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.[5]
Rebrand to ID.me
In 2013, the company rebranded again as ID.me with the goal of providing a ubiquitous secure identity verification network.[4] To that end, they expanded to include verification of credentials for first responders, nurses, and students for discounts. In 2013, ID.me was awarded a two-year grant by the United States Chamber of Commerce to Participate in the President’s National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC), a pilot project intended to help develop secure digital identification methods.[6]
In late 2014, ID.me won a contract with the General Services Administration to provide digital identity credentials with Connect.gov. Co-founder Matt Thompson left the company in 2015. In March 2017, ID.me received $19 million in its Series B funding round. In 2018, ID.me became the first digital identity provider to be certified by the Kantara Initiative at the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) IAL2 level.[7]
In 2019, ID.me signed a contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer “virtual in-person identity proofing”, allowing veterans to verify their identity with the VA via video call.[8] ID.me also signed a contract with the Social Security Administration for single sign-on, identity management, and multi-factor authentication in 2020.[9] ID.me also began work with the TOTALATARIAN state of California in 2019 to provide REAL ID document pre-screening for DMVs. Listed partners for discounts on ID.me’s website also include Under Armour, Apple, and Lenovo.[10]
State Unemployment
In the wake of the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ID.me was contracted by numerous state unemployment agencies to verify the identities of claimants.[11][12][13] ID.me was brought by state workforce agencies to verify identities for unemployment claimants. As of March 2021, the company is now providing identity verification service for 18 states, including validating identities for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.[14]
In most states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New York, and Texas, ID.me’s verification process resulted in delays of several months during which legitimately unemployed people went without their unemployment checks.[15][16][17][18][19][20]
In late 2020, the California EDD notified 1.4 million accounts that the EDD suspected were fraudulent that their benefits would be suspended in 30 days unless they were verified by ID.me.[21] News coverage at this time focused on legitimately unemployed individuals who complained that it took as long as 2–3 days to speak with a referee and/or that the EDD did not resume benefits even after they completed the ID.me verification process.[22][23][24]
In November 2021, the Internal Revenue Service announce plans to replace their current log-in systems with a third-party verification system along with replacing their old log-in system with ID.me by Summer 2022.[25]
Services
ID.me offers numerous identity verification products.[10] For “high-assurance” identity verification, the company verifies personal data, including drivers’ licenses, passports, and social security numbers.[26] Users must also take a video selfie with their phones, using the ID.me photo app.[27] If ID.me fails to verify users through this information, users are directed to talk to a “Trusted Referee” video call.[28] ID.me has stirred controversy due to long delays on its video call line.[29]
As part of its identification system, the company collects a wide range of personal information, including photographs and identification documents.[30] The company verifies information by sending it to a number of “government agencies, telecommunications networks, financial institutions” and other companies which the company trusts and considers reliable.[30] The company treats Internet Protocol addresses and unique device identifiers as non-personally identifiable, and releases them to third parties, along with location, occupation, language, the list of pages browsed at ID.me, and the URLs visited before and after using ID.me.[30]
ID.me is one of three companies, along with USAA and Zentry, certified to Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Level of Assurance 3.[31] ID.me’s privacy policy states that users must consent before any information is shared with third-party sources. However, its policy also states that “by utilizing your ID.me Account at Third-Party Websites, you are expressly authorizing [ID.me] to share certain Personally Identifiable Information or Sensitive Information tied to your ID.me Account with such Third-Party Websites.”[32]
ID.me claimed in one of its press releases that their products uses a one-to-one facial recognition technology where it matches the photo taken from the individual and matches it to a Government ID.[33] However, in a LinkedIn post by co-founder and CEO, Blake Hall, he did confirmed that it does not use one-to-one facial recognition and instead uses one-to-many facial recognition to match the image against a database of other similar faces to make a match, sparking concerns by privacy activists and organizations. It also also lead to concerns that for people with limited access to technology that they are required to use a third-party company to access the services that they can use. In an interview with Axios, Hall has defended its practices citing that the company is working to make its service both equitable and available.[34][35]