After some senators voiced privacy concerns, the US Treasury announced on Friday that it is examining alternatives to commercial provider ID.me’s facial-recognition technology for verifying identities for online taxpayer accounts.
The Internal Revenue Service said in November that it will use ID.me technology to verify identity for online services such as tax records and Child Tax Credit information this year.
The procedure, which entails uploading a “selfie” photo to create an ID.me account, has gotten a lot of attention this week as the IRS began its annual tax return filing season.
Senator Ron Wyden, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, expressed his displeasure with the notion of taxpayers submitting to facial recognition on Twitter.
“The IRS is constantly searching for methods to make the filing process more secure,” the government said in a statement. “To be clear, no American is needed to take a selfie in order to complete their tax return.”
A spokeswoman for ID.me could not be reached for comment right away.
According to a statement released on Monday, the company’s technology meets with the National Institute of Standards and Technology criteria by providing three methods for verifying identity.
