The IRS says it will transition away from using facial recognition for identity verification, after a bipartisan backlash regarding its use of ID.me services
The IRS had been preparing to require ID.me login verification for online tax services after earlier IRS breaches had already put fraud and identity protection at the center of its online-service strategy. The bipartisan response turns facial recognition into the unacceptable part of that security approach, rather than ending the need for stronger verification.
The IRS must transition online account verification away from facial recognition, changing the access process for taxpayers who would otherwise have used ID.me's biometric flow.
ID.me loses facial recognition as a default component of a prominent government deployment and must support optional or non-biometric verification paths for public-sector customers.
Second-order effects
IRS taxpayers gain a non-biometric route to online access, but the agency must absorb the operational burden of virtual interviews alongside automated verification.
Government agencies evaluating ID.me-style identity services face pressure to separate anti-fraud controls from mandatory face scans, favoring vendors and configurations that offer a meaningful opt-out.
Third-order effects
Public-sector digital identity is likely to shift toward layered verification, where biometric checks are one option among automated and agent-led methods rather than the universal gateway.
The episode establishes political scrutiny of facial recognition as part of government-service authentication, raising the implementation bar for agencies that treat security and user consent as interchangeable.
The trend: Government identity systems are moving toward choice-based, layered verification as biometric authentication draws scrutiny even when deployed for fraud prevention.
Americans shouldn't have to sacrifice their privacy for security. Full stop. Today I'm calling on the IRS to end its plan to require facial recognition for online accounts. https://twitter.com/...
@ronwyden
Ron Wyden on x
This is big: The IRS has notified my office it plans to transition away from using facial recognition verification, as I requested earlier today. While this transition may take time, the administration recognizes that privacy and security are not mutually exclusive. https://twitt…
@jeffnolan
Jeff Nolan on x
this did not take as long as I expected but it was an inevitability that the IRS would abandon this plan. No one wants server-hosted biometrics. The government track record here is not good... recall the OPM breach. https://twitter.com/...
@rachelmetz
Rachel Metz on x
so far i count 8 members of congress sending letters to the IRS, angry about its plan to use facial recognition via https://t.co/...: sen Wyden; sen Wicker; sens Blunt and Merkley; reps Liu, Jayapal, Eshoo, and Clarke. a refresher on the situation: https://www.cnn.com/...
@draglikepull
@draglikepull on x
Big victory in the fight against expansive uses of facial recognition https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@willoremus
Will Oremus on x
This is a big win not only for opponents of face recognition but for anyone who still believes public outrage can make a difference in the face of what can sometimes seem like an inexorable march toward a digital surveillance state. https://twitter.com/...
@kennwhite
@kennwhite on x
Good. This was a terrible plan. https://twitter.com/...
@evan_greer
Evan Greer on x
happy to have “helped” them change their mind ;-) https://twitter.com/...
@hshaban
Hamza Shaban on x
The IRS has abandoned its plan to require Americans submit to a facial recognition check through a private company to access their online tax accounts following a firestorm of criticism from privacy advocates and members of Congress. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@kevincollier
Kevin Collier on x
I spoke too soon (or not soon enough): it is indeed now on the IRS site, in case you wanna trust but verify me https://twitter.com/...
@tedlieu
Ted Lieu on x
Thank you to the IRS for responding and agreeing to transition away from facial recognition technology. https://www.irs.gov/... https://twitter.com/...
@wolven
@wolven on x
Oh wow, the IRS actually heeded experts about how terrible an idea “facial recognition systems tied to your government financial records” was. One down, literally hundreds if not thousands to go. https://twitter.com/...
@jacobian
@jacobian on x
This is good news, but it doesn't clearly say if the IRS is getting rid of https://id.me/ entirely or not. I hope it's it is; it's fucking bonkers that the IRS is using a private company for auth when https://login.gov/ is RIGHT THERE. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@tonyajoriley
Tonya Riley on x
@tedlieu “'I could do banking transactions right now, without having to have facial recognition. Why does the IRS need to have facial recognition to allow Americans to simply use their portal?'"Rep. @tedlieu said in an interview with CyberScoop https://www.cyberscoop.com/...
@tonyajoriley
Tonya Riley on x
“It is simply unacceptable to force Americans to submit to scans using facial recognition technology as a condition of interacting with the government online,” Sen. @RonWyden wrote in a letter to the IRS today, shared with CyberScoop https://www.cyberscoop.com/...
@jeffjohnroberts
Jeff Roberts on x
The IRS backs down on scanning your face. Thanks Sen. Wyden for holding off Big Brother till another day https://twitter.com/...
@anildash
@anildash on x
Effective, targeted advocacy works. This is a win. https://twitter.com/...
@kimzetter
Kim Zetter on x
Quick turnaround. Shows what good journalism can do to expose and change bad policy - hat tip to @briankrebs @TonyaJoRiley @drewharwell and others who jumped on this story https://krebsonsecurity.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@kashhill
Kashmir Hill on x
Wow. IRS reacts to public criticism. No longer plan to use https://t.co/...'s facial recognition system to check the identities of people signing up for accounts. https://twitter.com/...