U.S. government agency abolishes corona fraud face recognition system, due to concerns about privacy and racism

In the United States, scams that impersonate others and apply for support related to the new coronavirus are rampant, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States has introduced facial recognition to identify individuals as a countermeasure. However, due to many negative opinions about this face recognition system, it was announced that the face recognition system would be abolished.

GSA says no to facial recognition despite IRS ID plan --The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/07/irs-gsa-id-facial-recogntion/?wpisrc=nl_technology202

IRS To Ditch Biometric Requirement for Online Access – Krebs on Security
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/02/irs-to-ditch-biometric-requirement-for-online-access/

The IRS employs a certification service that uses the face recognition system developed by 'ID.me'. According to the Washington Post, ID.me has a two-year contract with the IRS for $ 86 million. The IRS states on the sign-in page that 'you will not be able to sign in with your existing IRS account by the summer of 2022,' requiring account holders and new creators to create an ID.me account.

However, according to security expert Brian Krebs , the process of creating an ID.me account is very complicated , and people who are not tech-savvy are likely to fail to create an account. There is also criticism that it is necessary to disclose personal information to one company when using government services such as the IRS.

In addition, the problem of ' high false positive rate of colored races ' has been pointed out for face recognition systems, and face recognition systems have been abolished one after another in many cities in the United States. Due to these issues, many have asked the IRS to stop adopting ID.me.

Big cities in the United States ban face recognition systems one after another --GIGAZINE

by Mike MacKenzie

In this context, IRS Commissioner Chuck Letchig said on February 7, 2022, 'IRS understands the suspicions raised and is serious about taxpayer privacy and security. We are face-to-face. We are rapidly developing an authentication process that does not involve authentication, 'he said, revealing that he is working on developing an ID.me-independent authentication process.

At the time of writing, the details of the services that the IRS will use in the future are unknown, but Finance Chairman Ron Weiden is urging the US government to use the authentication system ' Login.gov ' adopted in 2015.

According to Weiden, Login.gov has already been adopted by 200 websites operated by 28 federal agencies, with more than 40 million Americans holding accounts. On the other hand, Mr. Weiden said, 'Unfortunately, Login.gov is not fully utilized yet, because many government agencies have ignored the congressional order to'use Login.gov'. And that's because successive governments haven't prioritized digital identity. Billions of dollars of filing fraud come at the cost of government negligence, resulting in companies like ID.me. It has made it possible to commercialize the government's core services, 'he said, pessimistic about the underutilization of Login.gov.