IRS Abandons Facial Recognition Plan

An initiative that required taxpayers to use facial recognition software has been abandoned by the Internal Revenue Service.

To obtain a transcript of their tax return or to set up a payment plan, the plan required that users verify their identities.

Based on The Washington TimesAlthough the IRS initially stated that the plan was meant to fight fraud, it was heavily criticised by both political sides and was eventually scrapped. Experts were concerned about ID.me. This is the third-party software that can recognize facial expressions. According to reports, the company had a contract worth $86 million with IRS.

“The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said. “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.”

Political leaders praised this decision. 

“The Treasury Department has made the smart decision,” Sen. Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said of the decision.

Republican Senators also condemned the plan. They cited data leaks of taxpayer info as the reason the plan should be stopped.

“The decision millions of Americans are forced to make is to pay the toll of giving up their most personal information, biometric data, to an outside contractor or return to the era of a paper-driven bureaucracy where information moves slow, is inaccurate, and some would say is processed in ways incompatible with contemporary life,” the senators wrote in a letter last week.

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