Democrat senators want the FTC to investigate “evidence of deceptive statements” made by ID.me regarding the facial-recognition technology it controversially built for Uncle Sam.
ID.me made headlines this year when the IRS said US taxpayers would have to enroll in the startup’s facial-recognition system to access their tax records in the future. After a public backlash, the IRS reconsidered its plans, and said taxpayers could choose non-biometric methods to verify their identity with the agency online.
Just before the IRS controversy, ID.me said it uses one-to-one face comparisons. “Our one-to-one face match is comparable to taking a selfie to unlock a smartphone. ID.me does not use one-to-many facial recognition, which is more complex and problematic. Further, privacy is core to our mission and we do not sell the personal information of our users,” it said in January.
That would suggest ID.me created a system in which people provide a photo of themselves when creating an account, and when they try to log in, their picture is taken again and compared against the photo on file, and if it matches, they are authenticated. It may not be a perfect solution, as some facial-recognition tech struggles with women and people of color, though it’s simple enough: you’re either who you say you are, or not.
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