IRS Drops Facial Recognition Program Used to Verify Identities

This week the IRS decided to drop the controversial ID.me program that required users to upload a video selfie to create a new IRS account to access government services. The decision comes in the wake of bipartisan backlash to the program, prompted by privacy concerns. Concerns over bias in AI-driven facial recognition software also played a role.

In a statement posted to the IRS.gov website, the agency stated, “The IRS announced it will transition away from using a third-party service for facial recognition to help authenticate people creating new online accounts. The transition will occur over the coming weeks in order to prevent larger disruptions to taxpayers during filing season.” The current program requires people looking to create a new IRS account to upload an ID photo such as a passport or driver’s license, and a video selfie. These are then compared by facial recognition software made by Amazon called Rekognition, according to Ars Technica. After the two photos are compared and confirmed a match, the software then uses a “one-to-many” comparison, checking an identity against its own database of selfies to see if a person is trying to register multiple identities. If an ID is flagged as possibly fraudulent, the applicant would need to pass a video ID chat with a verification team, according to the ID.me blog.

One of the issues that sparked controversy is the government doesn’t have its own ID verification system, so it contracted the process to ID.me as a third-party. This raised concerns among privacy advocates regarding sensitive personal information sitting on non-government servers and in the cloud. Also, Amazon’s Rekognition software has been previously shown to be inaccurate when trying to identify people of color. This led Amazon to announce it would no longer sell its facial recognition software to law enforcement agencies in 2020, as an incorrect identification in that scenario could lead to a wrongful arrest. Another controversial aspect of the program is ID.me previously stated it only used one-to-one matching, meaning it only compared to the two photos. Later it revealed it was actually using one-to-many matching, which was quite a reversal. This prompted widespread concern about how ID.me was actually conducting the program, and whether it complied with IRS privacy rules.

The government has begun to look for new methods to securely check peoples’ identification. “The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig in a statement. “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.”