(HorizonPost.com) – The IRS released ID.me in December 2021, which required taxpayers to take a video selfie to prove their identity for access to their online tax accounts, transcripts, online payment and certain IRS tax credit portals. The software was supposed to run concurrently with the old identification process until a full rollout in the summer of 2022, but the outcry from critics cited privacy concerns along with racial and gender bias issues as reasons to abandon the plan.
Republicans and Democrats each sent letters to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), demanding the US taxing body stop using facial recognition technology for identification purposes.
New: The IRS is abandoning its facial recognition requirement after a hellish week of criticism: "No one should be forced to submit to facial recognition to access critical government services," @RonWyden says https://t.co/pUzseFl4zk
— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) February 7, 2022
In response to concerned lawmakers like Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Republicans from the Senate Finance Committee, the IRS announced it will now look for alternative options for taxpayer identification.
Commissioner Chuck Rettig released a statement about the public’s concern and how the IRS wanted to make sure citizens feel at ease about the security of their private information now and in the future. Although the federal tax agency did not go into detail about what will replace the ID.me system, the IRS confirmed it would “transition away” from scanning Americans’ faces to access tax services.
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