IRS Reportedly Abandons Facial Recognition Plan

According to reports, the Internal Revenue Service has abandoned a plan that would have required taxpayers use facial recognition software.

The plan would have required users to independently verify their identity in order to obtain a tax transcript or set up a payment plan.

According to 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. The IRS had signed a $86 million contract for the company.

“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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